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Do You Get Sick Easily?

GlutenWrangler

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GlutenWrangler Contributor
GlutenWrangler
Posted

Hi Everyone,

I have found that since I have had celiac, I get sick much easier. If someone around me has a cold or stomach bug, I pick it up myself. I used to only get sick about once or twice a year, but it is much more now. I was wondering if this is a common theme with other celiacs. It makes sense, being an autoimmune disease, but I just wanted to see what others had to say. Thanks.

-Brian

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Deej Newbie
Deej
Posted

I seem to catch everything going around. :(

CarlaB Enthusiast
CarlaB
Posted

I used to catch everything going around, but after gluten-free my whole family can be sick and I won't catch it.

jkmunchkin Rising Star
jkmunchkin
Posted

Actually funny you should post this. I was just commenting to DH on Saturday that ever since I went gluten free I hardly ever get sick. Before I was pretty much always sick with something.

GlutenWrangler Contributor
GlutenWrangler
Posted
  • Author

I've only been gluten free for less than a month, so I'm sure it will be a while before I notice a difference in getting sick. I thought I was getting glutened for the past few days, but it turns out I've just been sick. I hope the gluten/casein-free diet will kickstart my immune system again.

wozzy Apprentice
wozzy
Posted

Yeah I get sick less...I didn't even get a cold this spring! I think that was the first time ever.

Green12 Enthusiast
Green12
Posted
Yeah I get sick less...I didn't even get a cold this spring! I think that was the first time ever.

I get sick lesss too, when it comes to colds, flus, etc. But I react to foods really easily and often and have lots of symptoms surrounding these reactions that mimic colds, flus, etc, so go figure!

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Ashley Enthusiast
Ashley
Posted

I stay sick all the time <_< , feels like. I just had two sinus surgeries and that's really helped with sinus infections and whatnot, but, I'm always sick-to-my stomach, tired, no energy. It's just something I've learned to live with.

-Ash

judy05 Apprentice
judy05
Posted
Hi Everyone,

I have found that since I have had celiac, I get sick much easier. If someone around me has a cold or stomach bug, I pick it up myself. I used to only get sick about once or twice a year, but it is much more now. I was wondering if this is a common theme with other celiacs. It makes sense, being an autoimmune disease, but I just wanted to see what others had to say. Thanks.

-Brian

I am much healthier going gluten -free. I can't remeber the last time I had a cold or needed antibiotics. I also take a flu shot and I haven't had the flu in over 5 years. (knock on wood)

GlutenWrangler Contributor
GlutenWrangler
Posted
  • Author

Thanks for the replies. I'm looking forward to the positive effects of the diet. I hope it starts pretty soon.

-Brian

jenvan Collaborator
jenvan
Posted

I also tend to get rundown, sick easily. It is improving for me that longer I have been on the diet. A big factor is setting good boundaries with my schedule and making sure I get down time to rest and enough sleep. I keep my vitamins and balanced diet up too...

gfp Enthusiast
gfp
Posted
I've only been gluten free for less than a month, so I'm sure it will be a while before I notice a difference in getting sick. I thought I was getting glutened for the past few days, but it turns out I've just been sick. I hope the gluten/casein-free diet will kickstart my immune system again.

Its a common misconception to regard celiac disease as a weak immune system, if anything its a over reactive one.

Looking back I have hardly ever been sick from disease, mostly it has been allergies or autoimmune things or being rundown which os prably adsorbtion issues.

Since being gluten-free for 3 years I have had a cold once but mainly I don't get colds, flu etc. and never have. Most of what I thought were colds were allergies which explains why I never caught what was going around but thought I had colds when the rest of the community didn't and visa versa.

Same goes for scratches and things, I never get infected ?

Having said that continued poisioning by gluten can probably damage peoples immune systems eventually so people shouldn't rule that out.

eKatherine Apprentice
eKatherine
Posted

I hardly ever got sick before, and I hardly ever get sick now, so nothing has changed.

  • 1 month later...
MandyCandy Rookie
MandyCandy
Posted
Hi Everyone,

I have found that since I have had celiac, I get sick much easier. If someone around me has a cold or stomach bug, I pick it up myself. I used to only get sick about once or twice a year, but it is much more now. I was wondering if this is a common theme with other celiacs. It makes sense, being an autoimmune disease, but I just wanted to see what others had to say. Thanks.

-Brian

I've only recently gone gluten free but in the past if anyone has a cold I'll catch it (only I get it 100x worse), If i catch strep throat i get stage 4 strep throat. My mom could never figure it out from the time I was little why I get so sick. It's like my body can't fight off the infection (even though i've always been very active and at the time I thought healthy) I also have many allergies to Antibiotics to the point there's nothing I can be put on right now. I'm hoping now that i'm gluten free that I'll see an improvement and not get so sick all the time! Hopefully you'll find improvement too!

Mandy

elonwy Enthusiast
elonwy
Posted

I used to get sick all the time and I don't think I've had a cold since I've been Gluten free.

Like gfp said, having an auto-immune disorder means you have an overly strong immune system, it just happens to be a confused one. When you're gluten free and its not busy fighting your cells, it has time to deal with the stuff that it should. When its busy freaking out at gluten, its got no time to deal with the real stuff.

Obviously other factors make everyone different, but thats a simple explanation.

Elonwy

  • 2 weeks later...
KaitiUSA Enthusiast
KaitiUSA
Posted

I would get sick alot at first but now my immune system is pretty strong. If you are prone to getting sick you should definitely be on a good multi vitamin and be strengthening your body by getting proper rest and nutrients.

Kaycee Collaborator
Kaycee
Posted

Before going gluten free, I would only get one decent, horrible cold or flu each year.

But last year pre gluten free, was an annomolly, as I only had slight hayfever, which hardly gets me at all, but no colds or flus.

This year, as we still are in winter, I have not had anything to even warrant a day off work, yet everybody around me at work have been dropping like flies with flus etc. So I feel quite lucky, but it does not stop me wondering when I am going to get my big cold for this year and last year.

Another thing of interest, is it worth having flu injections. I am trying to put that off till I am old and gray, and maybe when my defences are worse than what they are now. But what are peoples opinions on this.

Cathy

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    • catnapt
      how much gluten do I need to eat before blood tests?

      By catnapt · Posted

      oh that's interesting... it's hard to say for sure but it has *seemed* like oats might be causing me some vague issues in the past few months. It's odd that I never really connect specific symptoms to foods, it's more of an all over feeling of unwellness after  eating them.  If it happens a few times after eating the same foods- I cut back or avoid them. for this reason I avoid dairy and eggs.  So far this has worked well for me.  oh, I have some of Bob's Red Mill Mighty Tasty Hot cereal and I love it! it's hard to find but I will be looking for more.  for the next few weeks I'm going to be concentrating on whole fresh fruits and veggies and beans and nuts and seeds. I'll have to find out if grains are truly necessary in our diet. I buy brown rice pasta but only eat that maybe once a month at most. Never liked quinoa. And all the other exotic sounding grains seem to be time consuming to prepare. Something to look at later. I love beans and to me they provide the heft and calories that make me feel full for a lot longer than a big bowl of broccoli or other veggies. I can't even tolerate the plant milks right now.  I have reached out to the endo for guidance regarding calcium intake - she wants me to consume 1000mgs from food daily and I'm not able to get to more than 600mgs right now.  not supposed to use a supplement until after my next round of testing for hyperparathyroidism.   thanks again- you seem to know quite a bit about celiac.  
    • trents
      IBS-D vs Celiac

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      Welcome to the celiac.com community, @SilkieFairy! You could also have NCGS (Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity) as opposed to celiac disease. They share many of the same symptoms, especially the GI ones. There is no test for NCGS. Celiac disease must first be ruled out.
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      how much gluten do I need to eat before blood tests?

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    • SilkieFairy
      IBS-D vs Celiac

      By SilkieFairy · Posted

      After the birth of my daughter nearly 6 years ago, my stools changed. They became thin if they happened to be solid (which was rare) but most of the time it was Bristol #6 (very loose and 6-8x a day). I was on various medications and put it down to that. A few years later I went on this strict "fruit and meat" diet where I just ate meat, fruit, and squash vegetables. I noticed my stools were suddenly formed, if a bit narrow. I knew then that the diarrhea was probably food related not medication related. I tried following the fodmap diet but honestly it was just too complicated, I just lived with pooping 8x a day and wondering how I'd ever get and keep a job once my children were in school.  This past December I got my yearly bloodwork and my triglycerides were high. I looked into Dr. William Davis (wheat belly author) and he recommended going off wheat and other grains. This is the first time in my life I was reading labels to make sure there was no wheat. Within 2 weeks, not only were my stools formed and firm but I was only pooping twice a day, beautiful formed Bristol #4.  Dr. Davis allows some legumes, so I went ahead and added red lentils and beans. Nervous that the diarrhea would come back if I had IBS-D. Not only did it not come back, it just made my stools even bigger and beautiful. Still formed just with a lot more width and bulk. I've also been eating a lot of plant food like tofu, mushrooms, bell peppers, hummus etc which I thought was the cause of my diarrhea before and still, my stools are formed. In January I ran a genetics test because I knew you had to have the genes for celiac. The report came back with  DQ 2.2 plus other markers that I guess are necessary in order for it to be possible to have celiac. Apparently DQ 2.2 is the "rarer" kind but based on my report it's genetically possible for me to have celiac.  I know the next step is to bring gluten back so I can get testing but I am just not wanting to do that. After suffering with diarrhea for years I can't bring myself to do it right now. So that is where I am!   
    • catnapt
      anyone here diagnosed with a PARAthyroid disorder? (NOT the thyroid) the calcium controlling glands

      By catnapt · Posted

      learned I had a high PTH level in 2022 suspected to be due to low vit D  got my vit D level up a bit but still have high PTH   I am 70 yrs old (today in fact) I am looking for someone who also has hyperparathyroidism that might be caused by malabsorption    
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