Am I Crazy, Or Are Women More Frequently Gluten Intolerant?

[jonney]

Browsing around on the forum, it looks like the majority (not all) of the posters are women. I read somewhere that 75% of the new cases of celiac reported are women.

Thoughts?

jonney (male)

[ENF]

Browsing around on the forum, it looks like the majority (not all) of the posters are women. I read somewhere that 75% of the new cases of celiac reported are women.

Thoughts?

jonney (male)

I'd estimate that the percentage of postings by females on this board is probably 95% or more.

ENF

[zansu]

Of course that could be more psychology than celiac.

Women tend to seek community for something like this more than men. Men tend to tough it out on their own . Although I bet there a male lurkers....

[nikki-uk]

Of course that could be more psychology than celiac.

Women tend to seek community for something like this more than men. Men tend to tough it out on their own . Although I bet there a male lurkers....

There is that (male 'denial!) but I also think that as a rule women on the whole are more susceptable to autoimmune diseases.

Maybe they have more 'triggers' (child birth - hormones- stress etc) or maybe women are just more able to recognise symptoms and are more 'in tune' with their bodies

Having said that - the 2 coeliacs in my house are male!!! (but it's me who posts )

[happygirl]

Women are also more likely to go to the doctor for their problems than men are. Men may just be suffering in silence.

[Nancym]

I think men deny it a lot more than women. To a lot of them an illness like this represents weakness. Even though they'd never admit it, men need to fit in more than women do. Not being able to "have a beer with the guys" or having to fuss over ordering food in a restaurant is pretty unmanly. And I think they're more concerned with their gender identity than women are. I don't feel "unwomaned" by much.

[Nantzie]

Yea, I think so too. I've notice that guys don't tend to see their doctors or look for answers for anything until their symptoms are so bad that it was interfering with their lives; not being able to work or socialize, being near-housebound, not being able to sleep. At least that's how it is in my family .

Maybe they are our mystery lurkers. We have 112 unregistered guests according to our front page, on Mother's Day at 10am pacific. I don't know about all of them, but I'm waiting for my breakfast in bed.

Nancy

[ENF]

I have read that women are at least twice as likely to have celiac as men. That's a big difference in percentage.

There was a request on this message board a couple of years ago for a male celiac forum, in the fashion of other sub-forums here, but this suggestion was not accepted.

[alamaz]

I think men are less likely to complain about themselves and seek medical attention. my dad is in my opinion an undiagnosed celiac and has had symptoms for years - horrible dental problems, essential hand tremors, the big D, brain fog etc. and like most people before diagnosis he's lived so long that way he thinks it's normal. i am the first to be dx in my family and they all say they'll get tested but when i comes down to it the doctor either talks them out of it or they had to miss thier appointment for one reason or another. my dad even jokes he'll soon be on the diet too but has yet to go to the doc.

[pedro]

I am here. Blessed is he among these beautiful women .

Is true lots of men don't seek professional help until hell breaks loose, or like I'm been suffering all my life with this thing, and thanks heaven that now I can give it a name, and do my diet and move on, and in the process help others and make others aware of Celiac Disease.

Thank you for your stories and experiences it helps me realize that I am not alone, I can talk to others that understand why I have to seek the bathroom everywhere I go . (Not any more since I started the gluten-free diet), by the way today is my 7th week been gluten-free.

Thank you and just like I say to my wife and my three daugthers I am blessed among women.

Happy mothers day.

[babygirl1234]

hmmm i have no clue to if women are most likely to have celiac disease but good qustion though

[tarnalberry]

while you can search pubmed for the stats (I don't remember them), this board does *not* represent the average celiac in gender demographics, geographic demographics, and especially compliance demographics. we are not a 'representative sample'.

we're great anyway.

[dally099]

hi i think that women may be more likely to have it as its autoimmune and we tend to have more things go on with our bodies like childbirth etc. i also think that women are very social creatures and we seek out support more then men do, so even if some of the women on this board dont have celiac very likely a man in the house does and she is here for support. but thats just my 2 cents

[loco-ladi]

Yeah what they said!

My first husband developed a sore on his back that wouldn't heal, he kept asking me to look at it... it kept getting worse, 3 years later I "scared" him into going to see the DR, told him "OMG that looks very bad it could be cancer" unfortunately I was right, it was Malignant Melanoma (sp) deadly kind of skin cancer, he lived but was barely caught in time as it had started spreading....so no not many men will actually talk about their health issues or see a dr until its so severe in some cases you wont recover

[little d]

HI!

In my husbands case, if something is really bothering him like respirtatory allergies acting up or just sick he will go to the doctor for some medicine to help him get well, No NEEDLES involved right, he asked me to make an appointment to see our Familly doctor because of heartburn that was bothering him, I snuck one on him and made the appointment for a full physical which also involves complete blood work, ECG, and that usual male type exam, I went with him to make darn skippy that he didn't skip out and not make his appointment, even told him that he could not have any thing what so ever to eat or drink except water, The man went and had some crackers he told the MA that did his vitlas. Just like a man not to listen to what he needed to do for the appointment, well I cant blame him he was hungry, after not eating all day his appointment was after lunch when he was able to leave work early. He has not had physical since highschool 10 yrs ago. We will soon find out his results of his blood work that he did not pass out for.

Later Donna

[Nantzie]

My dad didn't go to the doctor for his stomach problems until he already had Stage 4 inoperable stomach cancer. He died six months later. Total classic case of hindsight celiac.

Nancy

[ENF]

My mother died young because she didn't seek medical attention for a problem until it was too late.

We're all human, and both sexes make health-related mistakes of all kinds.

[Kyalesyin]

I think I'd vote with it being psychological more than anything- Getting my father to the doctor when he had classic meningitis tells was like trying to push an elephant. My mother went to the doctor every time she had a cold.

It'd be interesting, actually, to see if its a race thing- I mean, if one particular race suffers it more than another. If thats the case, it could streamline testing and everything else.

[spunky]

I think it's true women are physiologically more susceptible to autoimmune disorders than men, because of hormonal fluctuations, etc. But I also wonder if men just eat less gluten than women...at least it seems to me most men would rather have meats, etc., and women would be more inclined to have something with pasta, or desserts like pies, pastries, where men would choose the ice cream. So I wonder if between the hormonal fluctuations and the "healthier" dietary choices, women might actually be at a slightly higher risk for triggering the celiac genes...not always, but just sometimes.

This is all just casual observation and speculation. I'm sure there are probably more male celiacs who handle things in silence, whereas women are more likely to seek out camaraderie through message boards, support groups, etc.

I'm female and will do ANYTHING to avoid a doctor; then again, I feel I have good reason for this attitude.

[Karen B.]

I think I'd vote with it being psychological more than anything- Getting my father to the doctor when he had classic meningitis tells was like trying to push an elephant. My mother went to the doctor every time she had a cold.

It'd be interesting, actually, to see if its a race thing- I mean, if one particular race suffers it more than another. If thats the case, it could streamline testing and everything else.

I like what Dr. Michelle Pietzak said when she spoke to our Celiac group "It is true that if you never test an Asian or an African-American or a Latino for Celiac, you will never find an Asian or an African-American or a Latino with Celiac". One man in our Celiac group from Pakistan said his doc tested him 3 times before the doctor would believe the test results.

I think it's one of those things like the idea that overweight people can't have Celiac. It takes a long time for some doctors to forget what they were taught in medical school and learn what's new. I had to agree to pay for my Mom's Celiac test if it came back negative before her doc would test her. According to him, she couldn't have Celiac -- she was overweight! Her test didn't come back negative.

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A Google search turned up this info...

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Of the 4,322 children and adolescents (age 11.8

[GeoffCJ]

I'm a guy.

As much as I hate doctors, my problems, while not debilitating, were serious enough I went to my doctors in attempts to "figure it out". I don't know if my size threw them off, but none ever even suggested Celiac or food issues other than lactose intolerance.

After years of that kind of incompetence, I stopped going. Only went back after I had strong reason to suspect celiacs.

Geoff

[happygirl]

I would like to add that we have some very invaluable men that are members of our community....although they are fewer than the women, they are just as important

[Karen B.]

I think it's true women are physiologically more susceptible to autoimmune disorders than men, because of hormonal fluctuations, etc. But I also wonder if men just eat less gluten than women...at least it seems to me most men would rather have meats, etc., and women would be more inclined to have something with pasta, or desserts like pies, pastries, where men would choose the ice cream. So I wonder if between the hormonal fluctuations and the "healthier" dietary choices, women might actually be at a slightly higher risk for triggering the celiac genes...not always, but just sometimes.

This is all just casual observation and speculation. I'm sure there are probably more male celiacs who handle things in silence, whereas women are more likely to seek out camaraderie through message boards, support groups, etc.

I'm female and will do ANYTHING to avoid a doctor; then again, I feel I have good reason for this attitude.

It seems logical that a woman's immune system would be more complex and more prone to problems. She has to be able to carry multiple fetuses with different tissue/blood types and not have her body reject it as a foreign object. I remember reading that you could find DNA from a woman's children still in her body for many years after giving birth. The article was about the greater number of women to develop Lupus than men. I can see that confusing an immune system.

On a lighter side of observation, most of the men I know seem to think they are being mistreated if their lunch doesn't come between 2 slabs of bread.

[sfm]

I think men are less likely to complain about themselves and seek medical attention. my dad is in my opinion an undiagnosed celiac and has had symptoms for years - horrible dental problems, essential hand tremors, the big D, brain fog etc. and like most people before diagnosis he's lived so long that way he thinks it's normal. i am the first to be dx in my family and they all say they'll get tested but when i comes down to it the doctor either talks them out of it or they had to miss thier appointment for one reason or another. my dad even jokes he'll soon be on the diet too but has yet to go to the doc.

I'm not sure that men are less likely to complain about themselves - at least, none of the men I've known are...

But I do agree that, in general, they tend to wait longer before doing something about an illness.. at least, in my own experience that has been true; I don't know about all men.

[sfm]

I would like to add that we have some very invaluable men that are members of our community....although they are fewer than the women, they are just as important

Absolutely the truth!!