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  • Gini Warner

    Clumsiness and Imbalance

    Gini Warner

    By Gini Warner •

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    Reviewed and edited by a celiac disease expert.

      Journal of Gluten Sensitivity Summer 2011 Issue. NOTE: This article is from a back issue of our popular subscription-only paper newsletter. Some content may be outdated.


    Balancing Act. Image: CC--SashaW
    Caption: Balancing Act. Image: CC--SashaW

    Celiac.com 12/29/2018 - Imbalance and clumsiness may not be the most common symptom of the nervous system related to gluten intolerance but one of the most researched areas. Physicians use the term “ataxia” to describe poor coordination and balance. It can affect your walking and your ability to stand. While many systems contribute to your balance your cerebellum in the brain is the location that organizes all of the information and navigates your movements precisely.

    Some doctors claim that ataxia is one of the most common disorders produced by gluten in relationship to our nervous system. Poor coordination and clumsiness does occur with gluten intolerance and affects children as well as adults. Evidence suggests that this is all due to the immune system’s reaction to gluten itself. In people who are genetically at-risk for gluten sensitivity, gluten induces an immune attack against the protein gliadin and this antibody not only attacks gliadin in the gut but also attacks tissues far away from the intestines. In this case, through the bloodstream, these antibodies travel to the cerebellum and attack the Purkinje cells. As these cells become inflamed from the immune attack, the ability to integrate all the “balance information” is impaired, and coordination suffers. Symptoms like poor balance and coordination can result.


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    A study in Britain examined 224 people with ataxia disorders. Some had an inherited disorder of ataxia, some had ataxia combined with other neurologic symptoms, and some simply had ataxia without known cause. Of those that were without known cause, 41 percent were found to have anti-gliadin antibodies supporting gluten sensitivity as a cause. In another study, ten patients with headaches and/or clumsiness were placed on a gluten-free diet. Over time, nine of the ten showed a beneficial response in all symptoms. The evidence is overwhelming. The presence of gluten antibodies, shrinkage of the cerebellum and the dramatic response to dietary change all support gluten as the cause.

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    cyclinglady
    31 minutes ago, vvbrou said:

    HELP, WHAT IF THE GLUTTIN FREE DIET DOESN'T CONTROL THE DIARREA??

    If you have celiac disease, Dermatitis Herpetiformis, gluten ataxia or a gluten sensitivity, a gluten free diet should help you heal.  To heal, consider starting on the diet by not eating out and not consuming processed foods.  Healing can take months to a year because the gluten free diet has a steep learning curve and often there are concurrent illnesses like SIBO, allergies or Crohn’s that must be identified and treated. 

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    Guest Laura

    To VVBROU:

    The massive diarrhea cleared once I eliminated the following: gluten, yeast, egg, dairy (I have found that aged parmesan is tolerated as the fermentation process altered the milk protein). I did not tolerate coffee either, nor preservatives: nitrates (celery or cherry powders), nitrites, sulfites, many flavorings.

    Once the gut becomes leaky it takes time to heal and each gluten exposure, it is said, can take up to 3 months to heal.  

    Did you know that the search for the perfect food that began in 1938? The first attempts to alter the grains was for the stated goal to "feed the world".  Beginning in 2009 the well intentioned goal has instead produced severe multi-food intolerances.  Malnutrition (from chronic diarrhea) can then bring about other endocrine diseases.  It's a brave "new" world having to learn how to eat like a caveman.

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  • About Me

    Gini Warner

    Gini has a Masters degree from New York University in health science and has been a nutritionist for over 20 years. She specializes in celiac disease, gluten intolerance and diabetes. Gini offers recipes and menus to her patients. Her site is: www.healthbygini.com.

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