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Chronic muscle pain worse than before whole30


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Hubby and I are on day 15 of our first whole30. Have had minor detox symptoms. Didn't sleep well the first week, slight headaches, hubby had some stomach aches,  but nothing major.  But man, oh man I'm in so much pain.  I suffer from chronic neck and back pain. Due to a car accident 15 years ago.  There is absolutely no "medical" reason I should still be in daily pain.  That is one of the main reasons for starting whole30. I'm tired of ibuprofen and muscles relaxers, chiropractors and massages. I just want this pain to go away,. So, I'm very discouraged that I'm so much worse now, than before whole30.  It could be in part to no longer taking ibuprofen (to comply with suggestion from the book) and I haven't been exercising these last two weeks. 

I also suffer from an undiagnosed body temperature problem.  After numrrous s test and doctors visits, telling me how healthy I am, I've stopped searching for a cure.  My face, chest and back get very hot while at the same time, my feet and hands turn very cold.  It's very uncomfortable  and sometimes makes me nauseous. No one has been able to tell me why or what to do.  Some days are worse than others.  Some days I go all day, being one normal temperature and it's great!  But since starting with whole30, my symptoms are so much worse and more frequent with  multiple episodes a day.

Has anyone else experienced symptoms getting worse, before they get better? We don't want to stop whole30 but would be encouraged to hear that it's worse before it's better.  And to hand in their, ya know?

Examples of our meals

Breakfast-roasted vegetables always cooked with olive oil or coconut oil with eggs(in ghee)  and sometimes a little meat added. Sausage, hamburger, turkey.

Lunch is usually leftovers from suppers. Roasted or grilled  chicken breast , or a pork chop , or steak, with sautéed,grilled, roasted or fresh vegetables.

im trying very hard to always have a handful or two of protein, at least 2 tablespoons of cooking fat and two different vegetables, ranging from potatoes to kale.  

I think I'm doing it right, but maybe I've read something wrong and am causing myself to be sick.

thanks for taking the time and consider responding.  I'm so thankful for all your posts, ideas, and support.  You all make whole30 doable and enjoyable. 

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Hey there - Sorry to hear you've been having a hard time of it.... Can you be more specific about the types of vegetables you are having, as well as the types of fats? It's difficult to see any type of pattern with the way you have listed your meals.

Also, are you doing any type of stretching for your muscle pain? Salting your food? Drinking the recommeneded half an ounce of water per pound of body weight, daily?

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Hi JMCBN, 

thanks for taking time to respond. Sorry my meals/ menu was a little vague.  Wasn't sure what info would be needed, so just threw it all out there.  

This morning I made scrambled eggs with ghee, onions mushrooms, red/yellow peppers.  Sausages patty fried up with a little olive oil and leftover roasted potatoes and onions.  I salted my eggs  (better than assaulting them, right?) lol

last night we had steaks on the grill with mashed potatoes (first time having those) with a fresh cucumber, tomato, red onion, black olive "salad" tossed with oil,vinegar, salt, pepper.

the previous night we had crockpot soup of sweet potatoes, kale, chicken, olive oil, chicken broth, salt,pepper  with a side of sautéed cabbage, onions, zucchini, mushrooms. Used avocado oil and salt, pepper.

had this for lunch leftover with some fresh fruit cantaloupe and pineapple. 

Other breakfast- salmon cakes from the book with fried egg on top. Gee for the egg and olive oil for salmon. With sautéed red,orange peppers and onions.

last week for lunches, we had salads, with cucumber, tomatoes, black olive, egg, peppers, grilled chicken with homemade ranch.

before whole30, I was not doing any daily stretches for neck or back besides bending over a few times during the day to stretch it out. I was however, waking or running every other day, at minimum.  I'm fairly fit. Not running a marathon but can hike a mountain for days.  I'm so afraid of getting back to yoga because I did physical therapy for neck,back. That included daily stretching and electrical stem.  They overdid it and made my back so much worse than before.  That's been three years ago.  (They unhooked me one time from the electrical stem and my back continued to spasms for months.  When I would lay on my back, it felt like the muscles were literally falling off my bones. I couldn't sit at work for months and at home, I sat on a yoga ball instead of the couch.  Obviously they told me to stop all stretching.  I'm much better, 75% probably ,but the nerve damage still remains with its tingling and muscle hardening.  I went for my first massage last week- had been afraid of anyone touching my back, until now.  That relief lasted all but two hours before the pain returned. Ok- enough of the pity party. Basically wanted to convey my before  and after whole30 stretching and exercising practices. Now that I have energy back, after my first two weeks of whole30, I should be able to get back to exercising.  Walking a 5k on Saturday. ( was training to run it before I started whole30 but I'll run it next year.)

thanks again for your insight.  I really hope I'm not a lost cause.  I've tried most everything else.  I wear the best shoes and bought a standing desk for work. Everything seems to help for a little while, until it doesn't.  Just praying that I can rid myself of this inflammation, by eating and living the whole30.

 

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Ok, what I see are a lot of eggs, and a lot of nightshades - tomatoes, peppers, & potatoes in particular - have you ever excluded either or both groups? Both eggs & foods in the night shade family can be highly inflammatory & could be exasperating your pain. Excluding these is where I'd start.

You might find >this article< on nightshades useful.

Yoga, for any one with back issues, will only aggravate the issue - has no-one suggested Pilates? This is more the type of stretching I was referring to - it's much more gentle, and will work at strengthening the core in order to support the back, and will not over-flex the joints. You'd specifically need to look at stretching the hamstrings, the glutes, and the hip flexors which work to support the back & pelvis.

Is it soft or deep tissue massage you're going for by the way?

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Thanks for the info.  I'll read the article. But I must admit this possibility of excluding nightshades is very depressing to me. I just don't want to believe that I felt physically better eating the old way.  I don't want to seem ungrateful for your wisdom. It's not that.  I think for me mentally, I need to add my daily exercise routine back to my life and see if the pain goes back down to at least where it was before starting this journey.   If it is still increased pain, I'll remove the nightshades. Will includes Pilates in my routine.  I wish I wouldn't have changed two things at one time. Both eating and the lack of exercise. Because then I could narrow down the cause easier. I guess I was just really hoping that it's common for symptoms to get worse before they get better. But since that's not the case, I will make some changes. First to my stretching, exercising and then to my diet. (I will eat less of those things as well). 

I've  had both types of massage. 

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  • 4 months later...

I have an old whiplash (20 years)neck injury which plagues me, not helped  by falling off my bicycle a couple of years ago.  I've found that being mindful of how I sit is really important to not agrivating it. Relaxing my tummy muscles is one thing that does help. I seem to sit with them constantly in tension.  I also learned how the muscle fascia is connected from your toes to your neck and doing stretching for tight quads on the opposite side of my body to the neck pain has really had amazing results. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm so sorry you're experiencing increased pain. I think part of my issue was that I was so tired those first few weeks that I wasn't staying active. That can cause more muscle stiffness for me. You may want to take the advice of others and cut out nightshades to see if that helps. Stick with it, I'm sure it will be worth it for you. Good luck. 

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I'm glad to read this post.  I am getting ready to start a Whole30 on March 1 with my husband. This will be my third time.  I have chronic neck and shoulder pain from a fall about 5 1/2 years ago and I have been to every type of doctor I can think of, including the Mayo Clinic and on paper I am fine.  I do seem to get a bit of relief by working with a trainer to get stronger (mine also has an orthopedic background, so she works hard not to aggravate it) and yoga does seem to help although its hard to find gentle yoga classes near me that work with my schedule.  I do not recall the Whole30 making my pain any worse, but I do recall not feeling relief.

I never thought about excluding night shades or eggs, but I may try them, especially as I do eat a lot of those.

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16 minutes ago, MOboysgirl said:

@angmilky I'm so sorry that you can relate but I really hope cutting out nightshades brings you amazing results. I wish you well. 

Ya know, I'm willing to try it, but chronic pain is such a vicious beast.  I have tried diets (Whole30 twice) and various supplements a number of times hoping to find the magic formula.  And I'm not even convinced that an "anti-inflammatory" diet is what I need, because I don't have typical inflammation.  Its not swollen, or red or anything like that.  OTC meds don't work on it and I don't like how i feel on the stuff that does.  So I have my doubts, but I am willing to try. Being in the chronic pain cycle, I know its easy to get my hopes up for something and then get down when it doesn't work.  So instead I try to focus on what does...massage, exercise, chiropractic.  Always searching for answers, while understanding not everyone gets them.

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26 minutes ago, angmilky said:

Ya know, I'm willing to try it, but chronic pain is such a vicious beast.  I have tried diets (Whole30 twice) and various supplements a number of times hoping to find the magic formula.  And I'm not even convinced that an "anti-inflammatory" diet is what I need, because I don't have typical inflammation.  Its not swollen, or red or anything like that.  OTC meds don't work on it and I don't like how i feel on the stuff that does.  So I have my doubts, but I am willing to try. Being in the chronic pain cycle, I know its easy to get my hopes up for something and then get down when it doesn't work.  So instead I try to focus on what does...massage, exercise, chiropractic.  Always searching for answers, while understanding not everyone gets them.

As someone familiar with chronic pain, it's important to understand that chronic internal inflammation is invisible (unlike the acute inflammation you get when your sprain a muscle, etc). Nutrition (hello Whole30!) (as well as stress relief, exercise and sleep) can definitely help decrease this chronic inflammation and that can lead to a decrease in your pain.

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I understand your desperation and not wanting to get your hopes up. My car accident was 17 years ago and I've been seeking answers since then. You're right about focusing on what works and if you're like me, try something new when you have the mental strength. Who knows, maybe one day we will both have our cure. 

Im currently seeking help for hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue. I truly believe that my body  is releasing too much of certain hormones, and is attacking itself- causing inflammation and pain.  It is believed that my adrenaline/cortisol kicked into overtime from my accident to heal my body and just never stopped.  But I know I'm not causing further harm by doing whole 30. Eating clean will always be the best choice for our best health. 

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14 minutes ago, ArtFossil said:

As someone familiar with chronic pain, it's important to understand that chronic internal inflammation is invisible (unlike the acute inflammation you get when your sprain a muscle, etc). Nutrition (hello Whole30!) (as well as stress relief, exercise and sleep) can definitely help decrease this chronic inflammation and that can lead to a decrease in your pain.

This is true.  About a year or so ago I got to the point where my chronic pain was controlling me.  My life still revolves around it to a certain extent (if I miss too much exercise for example), I feel it, but I had to let go and accept that no matter what I did, a certain amount of pain was going almost 100% likely to be there.  I have tried everything from more sleep, meditation, etc.  All those help, but if I did EVERYTHING known to help, it is a full time job.

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21 minutes ago, angmilky said:

This is true.  About a year or so ago I got to the point where my chronic pain was controlling me.  My life still revolves around it to a certain extent (if I miss too much exercise for example), I feel it, but I had to let go and accept that no matter what I did, a certain amount of pain was going almost 100% likely to be there.  I have tried everything from more sleep, meditation, etc.  All those help, but if I did EVERYTHING known to help, it is a full time job.

I understand. And sympathize. Did you do your reintroductions when you did your Whole30 before? If not, and even if you did, I urge you do do them this time as your body and its reactions may have changed.

Also, I can report that Pilates (if you can find someone who can work with you one-on-one) is can be very restorative and rejuvenating and certainly helped with my pain.

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We've been off of whole30 and eating mostly paleo, once we finished 45 days of whole30. I do need to do it again and also reintroduction.  Ty for encouraging me to do that and the Pilates. Best of luck to you. I'm glad to hear you refuse to let pain control you. I try to live my life the same way. 

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