Jump to content
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.




  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):



    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):


  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

sensitivity vs celiac


blahblah

Recommended Posts

blahblah Explorer

What is the difference between having Gluten sensitivity and not getting too bothered after having gluten vs. Having celiac disease and still not having too bad of a reaction. Does your body get used to it? Or are some just more sensitive? If there is small cross contamination it probably wouldn't bother me.


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



emma6 Enthusiast

i think it just depends on the person, if you have celiac its still going to raise antibody levels
 and cause intestinal damage regardless of whether you have a reaction or not. i have celiac with no reaction to eating gluten, so i find it so strange that some people decide if something with gluten is ok to eat based on their reaction to it.

Ennis-TX Grand Master

Do you have celiac? You should probably get tested if you suspect it, you need to be eating it for 12 weeks prior to the blood test or 2 weeks prior to the endoscope.

Celiac is a autoimmune disease, there is a form of it called Silent Celiac where you show no outward symptoms or very little symptoms. Regardless if you have celiac any gluten or tiny amount of CC will trigger the antibodies and they WILL DAMAGE your intestines even if you do not feel the pain, vomiting or other issues. The damage will progress leading to other issues or more noticeable symptoms. You risk all kinds of issues including cancer if the damage persist. I am sure someone will give you links backing all of this up in a later post with instances of this kind of thing happening.

NCGI is more of issue where you body just does not react well to gluten, bit more noticeable, you would have the more obvious symptoms that point at your intolerant to gluten. And both of these issues have a whole list of various symptoms ranging from neurological, joint, and digestive.

Going to get some more links to post later about symptoms on them in info on silent celiac for you.

Ennis-TX Grand Master

Some info on Silent Celiac and A few other forms of the disease, along with a interesting symptom board.

"According to the World Gastroenterology Organization, celiac disease may be divided into two types: classical and non-classical.

In classical celiac disease, patients have signs and symptoms of malabsorption, including diarrhea, steatorrhea (pale, foul-smelling, fatty stools), and weight loss or growth failure in children.

In non-classical celiac disease, patients may have mild gastrointestinal symptoms without clear signs of malabsorption or may have seemingly unrelated symptoms. They may suffer from abdominal distension and pain, and/or other symptoms such as: iron-deficiency anemia, chronic fatigue, chronic migraine, peripheral neuropathy (tingling, numbness or pain in hands or feet), unexplained chronic hypertransaminasemia (elevated liver enzymes), reduced bone mass and bone fractures, and vitamin deficiency (folic acid and B12), late menarche/early menopause and unexplained infertility, dental enamel defects, depression and anxiety, dermatitis herpetiformis (itchy skin rash), etc.

Silent celiac disease is also known as asymptomatic celiac disease. Patients do not complain of any symptoms, but still experience villous atrophy damage to their small intestine. Studies show that even though patients thought they had no symptoms, after going on a strict gluten-free diet they report better health and a reduction in acid relux, abdominal bloating and distention and flatulence. First-degree relatives (parents, siblings, children) , whether or not experiencing symptoms, should always be screened, since there is a 1 in 10 risk of developing celiac disease.

The number of ways celiac disease can affect patients, combined with a lack of training in medical schools and primary care residency programs, contributes to the poor diagnosis rate in the United States. Currently it is estimated that 80% of the celiac disease population remains undiagnosed."

 

"Some people experience symptoms found in celiac disease, such as “foggy mind”, depression, ADHD-like behavior, abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, headaches, bone or joint pain, and chronic fatigue when they have gluten in their diet, yet do not test positive for celiac disease. The terms non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) and non-celiac wheat sensitivity (NCWS) are generally used to refer to this condition, when removing gluten from the diet resolves symptoms."

These are from another celiac website I found

Also meet gluten man has a nice line up of the symptoms found in celiac disease.

Open Original Shared Link

 


 
cyclinglady Grand Master

You have been around here a while.  I assume that you have been on a gluten free diet all this time based on your previous posts.   If the gluten-free diet is not working and celiac disease or NCGI (intolerance/sensitivity) was ruled out, consider another issue or disease.  You need to determine the source of your symptoms.  No one should feel sick for that long ☹️.    I wish you well.  

blahblah Explorer

I do have celiac. Before I discovered that I felt bad but now on the diet I feel fine. I think there is CC sometimes though and I have very mild symptoms but nothing as bad as it was. So I don't think I have silent celiac,  but I guess I was just wondering if once you are on the diet, you then can have CC and not be effected as much? And my understanding now is with sensitivity you just feel like s$#& but nothing internally is effected.

Jmg Mentor
On 4/12/2017 at 3:33 AM, blahblah said:

What is the difference between having Gluten sensitivity and not getting too bothered after having gluten vs. Having celiac disease and still not having too bad of a reaction. Does your body get used to it? Or are some just more sensitive? If there is small cross contamination it probably wouldn't bother me.

I think this question is almost impossible to answer with anything deeper than an anecdotal response. There appear to be big differences between individuals as to how sensitive they are and people also find their own level of sensitivity can change over time after adopting a gluten free diet. Not to mention those whose lack of symptoms lead to the condition only being discovered once there are serious consequences. 

One point I think is worth addressing however is the inference that gluten sensitive people are not in general bothered about having gluten. This isn't my experience! Non Celiac Gluten sensitivity will I believe eventually be seen as one position on a wider celiac spectrum. It may not include the intestinal damage markers that a 'classic' celiac diagnosis requires (Open Original Shared Link), but the other symptoms can be   serious.

 


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



salledell Newbie

From my experience, I believe I have always been gluten sensitive.  I can recall incidents of "indigestion," bloating, and stomach pain, as well as a 20 pound weight loss accompanied by occasional diarrhea, occurring over many years.  I was finally diagnosed in 2003 after suffering through about 12 years of "irritable bowel syndrome, during which I was prescribed Prozac, psyllium, Imodium, and Lotronex.  Also went through several tests including ultrasound and barium enema, as well as sigmoidoscopy.  Not once was gluten or celiac mentioned, although one doctor mentioned "dumping syndrome" when I landed in the ER for rehydration after a prolonged bout with diarrhea.

One does not wake up one morning with celiac disease.  It is a long process of damage caused by gluten, often without noticeable symptoms.ever having been a fan of pizza, pasta, or bread, I could go for long periods without having much distress, other than occasional bloating or flatulence.  I had always been rather anemic.  I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in 1994--Hashimodo's was mentioned--and found I had quite severe osteoporosis around 2000.  All this time I ws being treated for IBS.  

There are so many symptoms, often ignored by doctors, that are indicative of gluten sensitivity.  If a patient has a high score on fasting blood sugar levels, most doctors will monitor the patient for pre-diabetic syndrome.  In my opinion, any patient with two or more symptoms of celiac disease should be tested for gluten sensitivity to make certain that is not the cause of those symptoms.

i wonder if the food industry sponsors lectures at medical conferences on the "danger of going gluten-free" in the absence of diagnosed celiac disease.  With the ubiquity of gluten-containing ingredients in processed foods, it would certainly impact this industry if millions of consumers started choosing foods without gluten, forcing manufacturers to come up with alternatives for thickening and flavoring their products.

So it seems to me that gluten sensitivity is simply a condition which precedes celiac disease, much as insulin resistance precedes diabetes.  Would a doctor tell a patient to wait until s/he has full blown diabetes before treating it?  Maybe a patient will not develop celiac disease, but there are many other conditions which can cause trouble and expense to both the patient and the medical profession. I know my celiac disease cost me years of pain and physical symptoms, and a number of expensive tests and diagnostic procedures, all of which could have been forestalled by a simple blood test.  Incidentally, I have never had a biopsy, but have been symptom- free for 14 years, and my recent bone density scan returned with a diagnosis of normal.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):
  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      132,872
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    Koyanna
    Newest Member
    Koyanna
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.5k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):
  • Who's Online (See full list)

    • There are no registered users currently online
  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • SamAlvi
      Thanks again for the detailed explanation. Just to clarify, I actually did have my initial tests done while I was still consuming gluten. I stopped eating gluten only after those tests were completed, and it has now been about 70 days since I went gluten-free. I understand the limitations around diagnosing NCGS and the importance of antibody testing and biopsy for celiac disease. Unfortunately, where I live, access to comprehensive testing (including total IgA and endoscopy with biopsy) is limited, which makes things more complicated. Your explanation about small-bowel damage, nutrient absorption, and iron-deficiency anemia still aligns closely with my history, and it’s been very helpful in understanding what may be going on. I don't wanna get Endoscopy and I can't start eating Gluten again because it's hurt really with severe diarrhea.  I appreciate you taking the time to share such detailed and informative guidance. Thank you so much for this detailed and thoughtful response. I really appreciate you pointing out the relationship between anemia and antibody patterns, and how the high DGP IgG still supports celiac disease in my case. A gluten challenge isn’t something I feel safe attempting due to how severe my reactions were, so your suggestion about genetic testing makes a lot of sense. I’ll look into whether HLA testing is available where I live and discuss it with my doctor. I also appreciate you mentioning gastrointestinal beriberi and thiamine deficiency. This isn’t something any of my doctors have discussed with me, and given my symptoms and nutritional history, it’s definitely worth raising with them. I’ll also ask about correcting deficiencies more comprehensively, including B vitamins alongside iron. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and taking the time to help. I’ll update the forum as I make progress.
    • knitty kitty
      Blood tests for thiamine are unreliable.  The nutrients from your food get absorbed into the bloodstream and travel around the body.  So, a steak dinner can falsely raise thiamine blood levels in the following days.  Besides, thiamine is utilized inside cells where stores of thiamine are impossible to measure. A better test to ask for is the Erythrocyte Transketolace Activity test.  But even that test has been questioned as to accuracy.  It is expensive and takes time to do.   Because of the discrepancies with thiamine tests and urgency with correcting thiamine deficiency, the World Health Organization recommends giving thiamine for several weeks and looking for health improvement.  Thiamine is water soluble, safe and nontoxic even in high doses.   Many doctors are not given sufficient education in nutrition and deficiency symptoms, and may not be familiar with how often they occur in Celiac disease.  B12 and Vitamin D can be stored for as long as a year in the liver, so not having deficiencies in these two vitamins is not a good indicator of the status of the other seven water soluble B vitamins.  It is possible to have deficiency symptoms BEFORE there's changes in the blood levels.   Ask your doctor about Benfotiamine, a form of thiamine that is better absorbed than Thiamine Mononitrate.  Thiamine Mononitrate is used in many vitamins because it is shelf-stable, a form of thiamine that won't break down sitting around on a store shelf.  This form is difficult for the body to turn into a usable form.  Only thirty percent is absorbed in the intestine, and less is actually used.   Thiamine interacts with all of the other B vitamins, so they should all be supplemented together.  Magnesium is needed to make life sustaining enzymes with thiamine, so a magnesium supplement should be added if magnesium levels are low.   Thiamine is water soluble, safe and nontoxic even in high doses.  There's no harm in trying.
    • lizzie42
      Neither of them were anemic 6 months after the Celiac diagnosis. His other vitamin levels (d, B12) were never low. My daughters levels were normal after the first 6 months. Is the thiamine test just called thiamine? 
    • knitty kitty
      Yes, I do think they need a Thiamine supplement at least. Especially since they eat red meat only occasionally. Most fruits and vegetables are not good sources of Thiamine.  Legumes (beans) do contain thiamine.  Fruits and veggies do have some of the other B vitamins, but thiamine B 1 and  Cobalamine B12 are mostly found in meats.  Meat, especially organ meats like liver, are the best sources of Thiamine, B12, and the six other B vitamins and important minerals like iron.   Thiamine has antibacterial and antiviral properties.  Thiamine is important to our immune systems.  We need more thiamine when we're physically ill or injured, when we're under stress emotionally, and when we exercise, especially outside in hot weather.  We need thiamine and other B vitamins like Niacin B 3 to keep our gastrointestinal tract healthy.  We can't store thiamine for very long.  We can get low in thiamine within three days.  Symptoms can appear suddenly when a high carbohydrate diet is consumed.  (Rice and beans are high in carbohydrates.)  A twenty percent increase in dietary thiamine causes an eighty percent increase in brain function, so symptoms can wax and wane depending on what one eats.  The earliest symptoms like fatigue and anxiety are easily contributed to other things or life events and dismissed.   Correcting nutritional deficiencies needs to be done quickly, especially in children, so their growth isn't stunted.  Nutritional deficiencies can affect intelligence.  Vitamin D deficiency can cause short stature and poor bone formation.   Is your son taking anything for the anemia?  Is the anemia caused by B12 or iron deficiency?  
    • lizzie42
      Thank you! That's helpful. My kids eat very little processed food. Tons of fruit, vegetables, cheese, eggs and occasional red meat. We do a lot of rice and bean bowls, stir fry, etc.  Do you think with all the fruits and vegetables they need a vitamin supplement? I feel like their diet is pretty healthy and balanced with very limited processed food. The only processed food they eat regularly is a bowl of Cheerios here and there.  Could shaking legs be a symptom of just a one-time gluten exposure? I guess there's no way to know for sure if they're getting absolutely zero exposure because they do go to school a couple times a week. We do homeschool but my son does a shared school 2x a week and my daughter does a morning Pre-K 3 x a week.  At home our entire house is strictly gluten free and it is extremely rare for us to eat out. If we eat at someone else's house I usually just bring their food. When we have play dates we bring all the snacks, etc. I try to be really careful since they're still growing. They also, of course, catch kids viruses all the time so I  want to make sure I know whether they're just sick or they've had gluten. It can be pretty confusing when they're pretty young to even be explaining their symptoms! 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.