Video:Symptoms of Celiac Disease

Transcript:Symptoms of Celiac Disease

Hi I'm Dr. Allen Peters, physician and healthy aging expert of NourishingWellness.com and I'm here today for About.com to share with you the symptoms of Celiac Disease. 

Internal Symptoms of Celiac Disease

The symptoms of Celiac Disease are actually quite variable, and that's due to the fact that there are many organ systems which can be involved in the disease. The classic symptoms are diarrhea, mal-absorption and abdominal pain. And these can lead, particularly the mal-absorption to anemia and fatigue from vitamin and other deficiencies.  Interestingly enough, besides these lower GI symptoms, we also see frequently, upper GI symptoms.  The upper gastrointestinal symptoms include reflux, gastro esophageal reflux disease, GERD, or heartburn, which it is commonly known by.

Visible Symptoms of Celiac Disease

Dermatitis is another common symptom.  We also have seen eczema and psoriasis, which seem to be related to the gluten sensitivity. We have seen chronic congestion and other inflammations, particularly sinusitis, bronchitis, joint pain.  We have seen irritability. We have seen ADHD, made worse by the gluten initially and improved by getting people off of gluten. Women, unfortunately have multiple gynecologic problems. These problems include menstrual irregularities, endometriosis, infertility, miscarriages and stillbirths, some really devastating gynecologic problems.

Additional Symptoms of Celiac Disease

We have seen other dysfunctions, that they are not necessarily as symptomatic initially. This includes osteoporosis -- the weak bones over long time periods.  Sometimes a Celiac will be diagnosed after they have a hip fracture -- well that's pretty late in the game. We like to do Dexa scans on people at an early age, and see if we can make a diagnosis early and then see if that might be related to Gluten Sensitivity or Celiac Disease. 

Symptoms of Celiac Disease Related to Thyroid

And then, thyroid disorders.  Very high propensity for people with Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity to have thyroid problems.  And sometimes this will not be diagnosed until you have more advanced symptoms and more advanced disease. Children may have a "failure to thrive" syndrome, which includes short stature, frailty. Some of these kids will look really mal-nourished, they're dull, they're just not active kids, and that "failure to thrive" syndrome can be a symptom for Celiac Disease or Gluten sensitivity. I hope that you now have more awareness of the widespread symptomatology of Gluten sensitivity and Celiac Disease.

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