Celiac or Addison's complications? Can someone share their experience?

[KRipple]

Hello,

My husband has had issues with really bad diarreah for over nine months now. In mid November, he went to the doctor for what they thought was a bad cold, which two weeks later was diagnosed as bronchitis. A week later, in December, I had to take him back to urgent care and from there, to the emergency room cause his vitals were too low. They said he was having an Addisionan crisis and he spent five days in the ICU. Since my husband has Autoimmune Polyendocrine Syndrome Type II (type 1 diabetes, Addison's and Hashimoto's), I fought for a blood test to determine if he had Celiacs. Given the results of the test, he was told to go to a gastro for an endoscopy. It took two months to get his first appointment with the gastro. Still waiting for the endoscopy appointment.

He stopped eating gluten in the hospital and has followed a gluten-free diet since. His diarreah continues to be as bad as before he stopped eating gluten. Still has a horrible cough that makes him hack. His energy is so depleted he pretty much goes to work, comes home and goes lie in bed. He is having issues regulating body temperature. He is barely eating (he's lost 20 pounds since mid-December). Body aches. Totally run down. He has been taking more prednisone lately to try to counter the symptoms. 

Today, we went to his endo to discuss these things. She said to continue taking increased amount of prednisone (even though I explained that the increased dosage is only allowing him to do the bare minimum). According to the endo, this is all related to Celiacs. I am concerned because I know that both Celiacs and Addison's can have similar symptoms, but don't know if he would still be having these many symptoms (worsening, at that) related to the Celiac's after stopping gluten two months ago.

If anyone in this group has a combination of Celiacs and Addison's, could you please share your experience? I am really concerned and am feeling frustrated. His primary care provider and endocrinologist don't seem to consider this serious enough to warrant prompt attention, and we'll see about the gastro. 

Thanks.

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, @KRipple!

Sorry to hear of all your husband's health problems. I can only imagine how anxious this makes you as when our spouse suffers we hurt right along with them.

Can you post the results from the Celiac blood testing for us to look at? We would need the names of the tests run, the numeric results and (this is important) the reference ranges for each test used to establish high/low/negative/positive. Different labs use different rating scales so this is why I ask for this. There aren't industry standards.

Has your husband seen any improvement from eliminating gluten from his diet?

If your husband had any positive results from his celiac blood antibody testing, this is likely what triggered the consult with a  GI doc for an endoscopy. During the endoscopy, the GI doc will likely biopsy the lining of the small bowel lining to check for the damage caused by celiac disease. This would be for confirmation of the results of the blood tests and is considered the gold standard of celiac disease diagnosis.

But here is some difficult information I have for you. If your husband has been gluten free already for months leading up to the endoscopy/biopsy, it will likely invalidate the biopsy and result in a false negative. Starting the gluten free diet now will allow the lining of the small bowel to begin healing and if enough healing takes place before the biopsy happens, there will be no damage to see. How far out is the endoscopy scheduled for? There still may be time for your husband to go back on gluten, what we call a "gluten challenge" to ensure valid test results.

[Scott Adams]

I also want to mention that using prednisone would likely also make the endoscopy results invalid. This steroid will cause gut healing and could mask the damage caused by celiac disease. 

[trents]

Scott makes a good point about the prednisone. It has a general suppressing effect on the immune system. Don't misunderstand me. In view of your husband's several autoimmune afflictions, it would seem to be an appropriate medication therapy but it will likely invalidate endoscopy/biopsy test results for celiac disease.

[KRipple]

Thank you so much! And sorry for not responding sooner. I've been scouring the hospital records and can find nothing other than the following results (no lab info provided):

Component
Transglutaminase IgA
 

Normal Range: 0 - 15.0 U/mL
>250.0 U/mL High

 

We live in Olympia, WA and I will be calling University of Washington Hospital - Roosevelt in Seattle first thing tomorrow. They seem to be the most knowledgeable about complex endocrine issues like APS 2 (and perhaps the dynamics of how APS 2 and Celiacs can affect each other). His diarrhea has not abated even without eating gluten, but that could be a presentation of either Celiac's or Addison's. So complicated.

We don't have a date for endoscopy yet. I will let my husband know about resuming gluten.   

Again, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with me!

[trents]

@KRipple, thank you for the lab results from your husband's celiac disease blood antibody testing.

The lab result you share would seem to be the tTG-IGA (Tissue Transglutaminase IGA) and the test result is in excess of 10x normal. This is significant as there is an increasing tendency for physicians to grant a celiac disease diagnosis on the basis of antibody testing alone when the scores on that particular test exceed 10x normal. This trend started in the UK during the COVID pandemic when there was tremendous pressure on the medical system over there and it has spread to the USA. The tTG-IGA is the centerpiece of celiac disease blood antibody testing. All this to say that some doctors would grant a celiac disease diagnosis on your husband's bloodwork alone and not feel a need to go forward with an endoscopy with biopsy. This is something you and your husband might wish to take up with his physicians. In view of his many health issues it might be wise to avoid any further damage to his small bowel lining by the continuing consumption of gluten and also to allow healing of such to progress. The lining of the small bowel is the place where essentially all of our nutrition is absorbed. This is why celiac disease, when it is not addressed with a gluten free diet for many years, typically results in additional health problems that are tied to nutritional deficiencies. The millions and millions of tiny finger-like projections that make up the nutrient absorbing surface of the small bowel lining are worn down by the constant inflammation from gluten consumption. In celiac disease, the immune system has been tricked into labeling gluten as an invader. As these finger-like projections are worn down, the efficiency of nutrient absorption becomes more and more compromised. We call this villous atrophy. 

 

Edited February 24, 2025 by trents

[Scott Adams]

This article might be helpful. See this section of the article: Many People Can Be Diagnosed Using Only Blood Tests and No Biopsy

 

 

[cvz]

My daughter, age 48, has Down syndrome, hypothyroidism, Addison's disease, and Celiac disease, which was diagnosed based on blood tests last July.  After a small intestine biopsy last fall, we were told that she has severe celiac disease.  She is taking both levothyroxine and leothyronine for her hypothyroidism and both hydrocortisone and fludrocortisone for Addison's disease.  She also takes Folic acid, magnesium, vitamin B-12, DHEA (DAGA), and a multivitamin.  In July, she started on a gluten-free diet and is very compliant.  She has had constipation and diarrhea issues all her life and now controls the constipation with Miralax, prunes, and apricots.  Shel has only very occasional syncopes or vasovagal events and muscle aches in her upper back and neck.  She drinks 4-6 or more 12 oz bottles or of liquid per day.  Her doctor has just suggested adding electrolytes to one of those bottles daily.  

We are sorry to learn about the issues you are having and would like to stay in touch.  We do not know anyone else with both Addison's disease and celiac disease.  So far, she has no recognizable symptoms.  We are doing our best to keep her gluten-free, but have no way of knowing if she has had an exposure to it unless we catch it ourselves.  For example, a few weeks ago, a restaurant mistakenly breaded her fish, and I did not notice it until she had eaten most of it.  She had no identifiable symptoms of the exposure then or days later.

By the way, the reason she was screened for Celiac disease was that her blood lipase levels were unexplainably high.  They still are.  We have no idea why.  

 

[Scott Adams]

@cvz Thank you for sharing your daughter’s story. It sounds like she is managing multiple complex conditions with great care and diligence. It’s encouraging to hear that she is compliant with her gluten-free diet and that her Addison’s disease symptoms are under control. The addition of electrolytes seems like a thoughtful suggestion, especially given her fluid intake. It’s also reassuring that she hasn’t shown noticeable symptoms from accidental gluten exposure, though it’s understandable how challenging it can be to monitor for such incidents. The unexplained high lipase levels are intriguing—perhaps further investigation or consultation with a specialist could provide more clarity. Wishing you both continued strength and success in managing her health. Please keep us updated on her progress!