Celiac Disease Related Symptoms

[mjbonsais]

I thought you would all appreciate looking at this list.

List of symptoms associated with Celiac Disease (also known as Celiac Sprue and Gluten Intolerance):

Lassitude (a term describing a feeling of tiredness, weakness or exhaustion)
Inanition (exhaustion, as from lack of nourishment)
Depression
Fatigue (often chronic)
Irritability
Fuzzy-mindedness after gluten ingestion
Dental enamel defects (lots of dental cavities due to weak enamel)
General malnutrition with or without weightloss
Any problem associated with vitamin deficiencies
Diarrhea
Constipation
Lactose intolerance
Flatulence
Anorexia
Nausea
Vomiting
Burning sensation in the throat
Abdominal pain and bloating
Borborygmi (audible bowel sounds)
Abdominal distention
Steatorrhea (fatty stools that float rather than sink)
Foul smelling stools
Bulky, greasy stools
Anemia (iron deficiency)
Hemorrhagic diathesis (bleeding disorder)
Osteoporosis/osteopenia (bone loss or thinning)
Bone pain (especially nocturnal)
White flecks on fingernails
Short stature (due to slow growth)
Arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Arthralgia (pain in the joints)
Tetany (spasms and twitching of the muscles)
Parasthesia (abnormal or impaired skin sensation including burning, prickling, itching, or tingling)
Amenorrhea (absence of menstrual bleeding)
Delayed puberty
Infertility
Impotence
Cheilosis (inflammation, cracking and dryness of the lips)
*Angular cheilosis (specifically cracking in the corners of the lips)
Glossitis (swollen tongue)
Stomatitis (any form of inflammation or ulceration of the mouth, such as mouth ulcers, cold sores, thrush, etc.)
Purpura (purple or red spots on your skin caused by bleeding under the skin, more common in elderly)
Follicular hyperkeratosis (corns, calluses, plantar warts, psoriasis, nail fungus)
Atopic dermatitis (a tendency towards allergies and a predisposition to various allergic reactions)
*Scaly dermatitis (inflammation of the skin, includes dandruff and topical allergic reactions)
Hyperpigmented dermatitis (can't find the definition, must have something to do with the color of the rash?)
Alopecia areata (loss or absence of hair, leaving the skin looking and feeling normal)
Edema (accumulation of serum-like fluid in the body tissues)
Ascites (accumulation of fluid in the peritoneal cavity-the space between the abdominal wall and the organs)
Selective IgA deficiency
Seizures, with or without occipital calcification
Hepatitis (inflammation of the liver, may be acute or chronic)
Dermatitis herpetiformis (skin rash characterized as intensely itchy skin eruptions like red bumps and blisters. Burning, stinging and itching is very bad. It appears in groups around the body, most often on the head, elbows, knees, and buttocks, much like the lesions of Herpes which is why the name is herpetiformis-meaning "like herpes". Must be diagnosed by a doctor. Only occurs in celiac patients.)
Liver disease
Xerophthalmia (an eye disorder which causes the conjunctiva and cornea to become abnormally dry)
Night blindness (inability to see well in dim light)
Thyroid disease
Unexplained neuropathic illnesses, including ataxia and peripheral neuropathy
*Peripheral neuropathy (disease, inflammation and damage to the peripheral nerves, which connect the central nervous system to the sense organs, muscles, glands, and internal organs. Damage to sensory nerves may cause numbness, tingling, sensations of cold, or pain, often starting at the hands or feet and moving toward the body center. Damage to the nerves of the autonomic nervous system may lead to blurred vision, impaired or absent sweating, headaches, episodes of faintness associated with falls in blood pressure, disturbance of gastric, intestinal, bladder or sexual functioning, including incontinence and impotence. In some cases there is no obvious or detectable cause)
*Ataxia (incoordination and clumsiness, affecting balance and gait, limb or eye movements and/or speech, making one appear as if they were drunk)
Dementia
Diabetes mellitus type 1
Sjogren's syndrome (eyes, mouth, and vagina become extremely dry)
Collagen disorders
Down syndrome
IgA neuropathy
Fibrosing alveolitis of the lung (body produces antibodies against its own lung tissue, creates a dry cough and breathing difficulty upon exertion)
Hyposplenism, with atrophy of the spleen (underactive spleen)
Pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas)
Lymphoma (any group of cancers in which the cells of the lymphoid tissue multiply unchecked)
Leukopenia (abnormal decrease in white blood cells, often reducing immune system function)
Coagulopathy (blood clotting disorder)
Thrombocytosis (low blood platelets/damaged platelets, causing large amounts of bruises due to uncontrolled bleeding under the skin)
Melanosis (black or brown discoloration of the colon, usually due to chronic constipation)
Erythema nodosum (red-purple swellings on the legs and sometimes arms, with fever and joint pain)

In children:
Failure to thrive
Irritability
Paleness
Fretfulness
Inability to concentrate
Emotional withdrawal or excessive dependence
Nausea
Pale, malodorous, bulky stools
Frequent, foamy diarrhea
Wasted buttocks
Anorexia
Malnutrition:
*With protuberant abdomen (with or without painful bloating)
*Muscle wasting of buttocks, thighs, and proximal arms
*With or without diarrhea
(as well as any number of the above diseases and disorders)

Additional information:

Reactions to ingestion of gluten can be immediate, or delayed for days, weeks or even months.

The amazing thing about celiac disease is that no two individuals who have it seem to have the same set of symptoms or reactions. A person might have several of the symptoms listed above, a few of them, one, or none. There are even cases in which obesity turned out to be a symptom of celiac disease.
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[megan]

Hi -

I am wondering if anyone has experienced a difficulty breathing, specifically in taking a deep breath or yawning. My lungs are fine, but I have been having a hard time takng deep breaths. I first noticed this after eating some bread and thought it was associated with the swelling that sometimes comes after eating something with gluten. I was diagnosed about a year ago and am noticing that my reactions to certain foods/products are changing. Is that normal as well?

[Bobby]

Megan,
I was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis a year ago. I had severe breathing problems. Eight months ago I suddenly lost 40 lbs. and had severe gastric symptoms that blood test and an intestinal biopsy confirmed was Celiac Sprue, I went on a gluten-free diet. Within 5 days
I started to gain weight again and strangely enough my shortness of breath (dypsnea) almost cleared up completely. The only time the dypsnea flared up again along with the severe gastric symptoms was when I had found out that Pam olive oil spray had grain alcohol as an ingredient and it was aggravating my condition. Since then I have not had to use an inhaler once in six months. So there is no question in my mind that Celiac aggravates breathing difficulty.

[mattc68]

Please, if you would sir or madame, let us know the source of this medical information. My wife read your post and now she is scared. If this is just your opinion let us know or let us know the literary source of this information.

[sandrasi]

[aklap]

Hi,

While I did not make this specific post, I have posted this list in another forum here. From the research that I have done - these symptoms are from medical research. Unfortunately I can not point to you 1 specific paper that has ALL of those symptoms, I suspect the list that has been posted here is a compilation. Actually this is probably a short list...there are over 250 symptoms that are attributed to CD/GS.

I am sorry that this has scared someone. I'm sure it was not the intent this poster - nor is it mine. I post things in order to help educate people about this disease because it is so misdiagnosed & misunderstood. There is a reason why this disease is called "The Great Imitator". The average time frame for someone to be diagnosed with Celiac Disease or Gluten Intolerence is 11 years. 11 years!!!! That's 11 years of incurring damage that doesn't need to happen if people are aware. Any guess as to why it takes that long?? Because patients & health care providers don't know! I was lucky, I stared doing research and only suffered 1.5 years. I am one of many that have been self diagnosed. I had many of those symptoms. After maintaining a gluten free lifestyle for 1.5 years - I no longer feel that I am literally dying!! (Ask my wife - she's seen me curled up on the living room floor shaking). I am in the grey zone - I don't have CD...yet. I am Gluten Sensitive which means gluten does affect me, but I have not yet reached the point of intestinal (villi) damage. The Gold standard for testing is the intestinal biopsy. The only thing wrong with this is that you must suffer and incurr the damage in order to get diagnosed. Villi damage is End Stage for this disease. Hopefully posting a symptom list like this might stop someone before they get to the end stage of CD and all the complications that go with it (that's another research project in itself!!)

Here are a few sites should you want to further research the symptoms of CD. I pulled this out of a google search using "celiac symptoms". Many are medical sites.

http://www.csaceliacs.org/celiac_symptoms.php
http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2003/03/03/hlsd0303.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000233.htm#Symptoms
http://www.medicinenet.com/celiac_disease/page2.htm
http://www.healthnewsflash.com/conditions/celiac_disease.php
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~coeliac/sprue.html
http://www.aurorahealthcare.org/yourhealth/healthgate/getcontent.asp?URLhealthgate=%2219220.html%22

I wish you good luck & health in your knowledge quest!!
_________________
Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

[suebee]

Hi - I was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease. I had been suffering with DH on arms and legs for 6 years. Now I am on a gluten free diet. (YUK!!!) But I have been having a condition they call angioedema - swelling in my face and eyes. Very uncomfortable. I have 3 eyelids and my face has jowls like a dog. Even the scelera (sp?) of my actual eyeball is swollen. This has been going on for 3 months+. They had me on steriods (IV and oral) for 4 weeks and it did not really take care of this problem. Just wondering if anyone else has ever experienced this condition with CS. This was the first time I saw edema in reference to CS. Everywhere else I looked it was listed as two separate conditions. Any info would be helpful. Thanks for your time. Suebee

[aklap]

Hi Suebee,

Sorry that you're feeling so yucky I just did a google on angioedema & celiac. It's finding all sorts of stuff. I have not really studied it...I'm posting as I find it. Some of it may not be related at all.

How long have you been gluten free?

http://health.allrefer.com/health/food-allergy-info.html

http://www.aafp.org/afp/990115ap/415.html

http://www.aafp.org/afp/20021215/2259.html

http://www.nutramed.com/allergy/allergyintro.htm

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/104/2/e25

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12839117]
_________________
Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

[Fran]

I was diagnosed last Sept with a biopsy that showed the lining of my small intestine almost totally destroyed! I also have pancreas damage, and some liver problems, as well as most of the symptoms on the list. I have been having problems for 30 YEARS! (I am 60 years old) I have been diagnosed with spastic colon, fibromylgia, arthritis, IBS, and osteoporosis, I also have had my gallbladder removed, along with total knee replacements. Needless to say, I was at the point of death when the diagnosis finally came. I am better now, I know it will take a long time to heal, but the diet is already helping me. I wish somehow I could have known about these symptoms long before now, but maybe people are becoming more informed. And it is scary, you could get as sick as I was. ( I was in the hospital for 3 weeks that time)
_________________
Fran

[aklap]

Hi Fran,

I'm sorry to hear that you had to go thru all that. I was telling Barb in the Seniors forum (I think she's lonely over there ) that I hang out in these boards to help people because they helped me. I don't want people to go thru what I went thru (which is NO WHERE NEAR what you have gone thru). These boards are life saving!!

Unfortunately this disease is so misunderstood and so misdiagnosed that it is the absolute LAST thing (if ever) the medical profession checks for (in many cases. I have to be careful because my wife works in the medical profession ) Someday, this disease will be well known and well understood. It's going to take time for the medical profession to catch up. That's why places like this are so valuable. They get the info out into the hands of people that are suffering and want answers...NEED answers...NOW. Not 30 years later. That's why I turned to the internet...no one could give me any answers (particularly ones that I wanted).

...biopsy that showed the lining of my small intestine almost totally destroyed!...

This is what many of us have a bind about. The docs will only diagnose you with CD when you have intestinal damage. Which in the case of CD - intestinal damage is "end stage" for the disease. Cutting edge researchers like Dr. Fine at EnteroLabs are finding is that there is a point BEFORE you attain the intestinal damage and it can be spotted. Like I said, this stuff is cutting edge and not widely accepted by his peers. But by-gosh, it makes a heck-of-a-lot of sense to me. Specially because I am one of the Gluten Sensitive he talks about!!! No - I don't have CD by todays standards. But I bet with 30 years of gluten ingestion, I probably would.

I hope everyone takes the time to poke thru his site. If nothing else - please read Early Diagnosis Of Gluten Sensitivity: Before the Villi are Gone". I think it'll make sense to you as well.

Fran, thanks hanging out with us and "spreading the word". Thanks to everyone for all they do in furthing the awareness of CD/GS
_________________
Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

[Deb]

its so true--we go to the doctor wanting to know what's wrong and we get the runaround until the damage is so severe, that it's hard to come back without all these other problems--if they could just diagnose this when it gets started, i dont think so many of us would develop so many other intolerances--i have been gf now for over 3 1/2 yrs and i do feel so much better, but more intolerances keep popping up--no soy for me, i am very sensitive now to different scents--some take my breath away--at work the other day, someone sprayed a citrus room deodorizor and they had to turn on the ceiling fans to suck it out--i started coughing and then breathing heavy----and i truly believe that if i had not went over 20 yrs without knowing, then i wouldnt be in this shape now sigh---and then there is the neuropathy---sigh----- enough venting deb

[olumide7]

I was initially diagnosed in Oct. 03 and that it might be sprue and to avoid whole wheat bread but that pasta was ok, so went home and made some noodles for a side dish and spent the next two days doubled over in pain. I was unable to even research the condition until I could drag myself to the computer and do some study on this. My first and accurate thought was that this doctor was clueless! Pasta is made from Semolina which is one of the highest forms of gluten according to what I have read.
An endoscipy showed a very large ulcer in my esophogus and My new doctor put me onto prevacid or nexium to treat the matter (Can't remember which came first). Both med's caused extreme Edema for me, so Edema is not that uncommon a reaction for some of us. I swelled up about 15 lbs. within a day or two of taking these med's.

[mjbonsais]

:lol:The tough individual perseveres. I took Dr. Fine's Test over a year ago and carry the main gene for gluten intolerance and celiac. I had no blood test for CD nor endoscopy. I carry the DQ2, DQ8 HLA markers. Dr. Fine does believe anyone that carries the main genes SHOULD ADHERE TO STRICT GLUTEN FREE DIET~ Why wait till full blown symptoms appear? In other words, would you wear a cycle helmet while riding or wait to see if you have an accident first? CD is one of the most ignored diseases or is totally misdiagnosed. Diabetics and persons with MS have had great relief with the use of a gf diet. Dr. Fine's site has a list of diseases/syndromes that respond to a gluten free diet as well. Check it out!
By the way there is another lab that will check you/family member for the presence of gene that can lead to full blown CD. This came in my local support group newsletter.

Call: Jill Murphy-Genetic Counselor
Kimball Genetics in Denver, CO
1-800-320-1807

There are times when one may have CD and it will not show up on the blood tests nor an endoscopy of small intestine because not enough damage has been done created. In my case, I believe menopause and the sudden stress of my husband being dx'd with hep C caused my symptoms to show. I had constipation, some diarrhea, burning throat after ingesting licorice (has wheat as ingredient)and some abdomianl pain. I had a colonoscopy with biopsies and suspect MC. MC can be related to CD. Any disease will take on different faces with various individuals because we are all different. Just because one has one symptom does not mean he absolutely has CD. You know your own body when something isn't quite right and you should respond when it calls. I more or less found it out on my own. Dr. Fine is a hero to me!
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[maria1223]

some for us that r dx with celiac don't show symptoms til the damage is done. so what r u trying to tell us we should know when we get it. I must have had the genes it for at least 15 yrs. than I showed symptoms in dec.2004.. Than the damage was so severe that I have C- Difficle, Asthma that is so bad now. I have 6 enlarged Lynphnods in my stomach that my stomach swells up like I'm nine months prenant with twins. now I have to have a swallow test done. I get pains in my joints, muscles & my bones that hurts so bad that sometime I can't move. my Dr tells me that I'm anorecxic.

[mjbonsais]

Such is the odd disease of Celiac! I, obviously, had this all my life too! For some reason it reared its ugly symptoms later on in life. I believe mine were pronounced from severe stress.

All I am saying is EVERY individual is definitely different in response to this syndrome is all. As stated above, some may show one or "none" of the symptoms sadly to say. If one does have any of the symptoms, it wouldn't hurt to try ridding gluten.

Thinking back, I had bouts of constipation in my past and that can be a symptom. Diarrhea could be another. Bone pain is another. I had that nocturnally until GF diet began- I haven't had it since. I also had headaches and loss of some hair. Weird thing is menopause in women have similar symptoms of bloating, constipation, digestive problems, headaches etc... I think that could be one of the reasons noone suspected this nor myself; hence, that is what I mean by listening to one's body and become educated. The www is very resourseful. The gene test I took ( Dr. Fine's was a swab of inside mouth cheek sample) showed that I had the main gene for this. The lab in Colorado does blood/swab testing.

I hope being GF helps you Maria. Please accept my apologies if you found my posting meaningless, that was not my intent. Having doctors and nurses within my family- they didn't know either.

MJ
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