Celiac & Osteoporsis -Men Too?

[ivegotitalso]

hi-

It appears i am a 3rd generation celiac in the usa but my mom had it bad onset aged 65 with dx but had ibs her whole life with all sorts of other auto immune stuff like graves, and bad osteo by the time she hit her 60-70's i think owed to the diet of eating gluten nearly her whole life and not being dx with it until late in her life. now i am 54, have been tested 5 yrs ago, was neg, still had all the symptoms retested now at 54, pos. am having a hard time changing over from some processed foods but the stuff i am buying and trying online most of it is awful and i am just throwing my money away. most of it is so hard and unpalitable that i think my body hates it worse than gluten.

so i did a bowel cleanse to rid myself of the online junk, and probably will just stick to a basic diet of veggies, and dairy unless i find i cant take the dairy either.

cozy shack rice pudding and tapioca at little cups with fiber in them now and only 70 calories so i like those clearly marked gluten free.

polly o mozarella cheese in a square block seems ok, i am eating just plain old eggs, oj, potatoes, sweet potatos, bananas, chicken no skin no bone, nathans hot dogs are gluten free, yoplait yogurt is gluten free, and trying to go natural. tuna fish -etc.

but here is my question

my mom had bad osteo, i wonder if any men develop osteo or is this just for women who are celiacs, and now my poor kidd who 25 has some syptoms. but i also had sjogrens pronounced show-grins auto immune only like 4 mill have it in the usa, it attacks the salavary glands, makes your skin dry, eyes dry, mouth dry, for ladies, vagina dry, and there is no cure for this, it also can attakc the pancreas like it did in my case which casued me pancreatitis-auto immune. does anyone else have this awful ai on here also?

[butterfl8]

Osteoporosis is a bone disease caused by brittle bones, resulting in fractures. Woman are prone to get it because of menopause, and a tendecy to not get enough calcium. Men can still get Osteo, but it is more common among women.

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When we have celiac disease, but are not gluten free, we are at an increased risk for osteoporosis because our bodies main route of absorbing nutrients (small intestines) has been compromised. Calcium, the prime nutrient of bone formation, is one of these. This leads to an increase of the risk for Osteo in Celiac patients.

Once you are Gluten free nutrients are absorbed, so unless you already have osteoporosis or osteopenia (milder bone loss) you don't have to worry about suddenly developing osteo because of celiac. If there are other risk factors, well, I can't speak to those. I'm only writing about what I learned when I was first diagnosed! Hopefully someone else can answer your questions about the other autoimmune conditions.

Best of luck!

-Daisy

[kayo]

I have RA, sjogrens and osteopenia. I'll talk a bit about the sjogrens. It affects my eyes the most. My corneas were so dry and damaged I've had punctal plugs (tear duct plugs) and cauterization procedures over the past 5 years. I've tried all kinds of drops and meds. I tend to wake up with a dry mouth but generally I'm not bothered by this during the day. My skin tends to be on the dry side too. With each troublesome food I remove from my diet my sjogrens improved. First was gluten, then soy and now I'm on a low fructose diet (suspected fructose malabsorption issues). The biggest improvement seemed to occur after I removed soy from my diet. When I saw my cornea specialist he couldn't believe the improvement in the corneas. The areas of dryness had shrunk dramatically. This is after 5 years worth of drops, plugs, cauterization, meds. All those things didn't improve my eyes as much as removing the foods I'm intolerant to did.

Now that I have removed these things from my diet I'm beginning to heal. I'm absorbing vitamins. I took vitamin D for years and my level was still too low (11-20). It's a shame the doc didn't clue in that something was going on. Since changing my diet and upping my vitamin D and calcium intake my vitamin D level is now a healthy 36. I hope it will continue to increase. Next on my list is an exercise regime to build bone strength. I'll have another bone density test in about 18 months to see if there's improvements with the ostepenia.

The gluten-free substitutes can taste awful in the beginning because you still have food memory. You still know what gluten bread, and pizza and cookies taste and feel like. Your best bet is to stay away from the substitutes for a while and let your body heal and change. Your taste buds might go through a change too. Mine did for a while and nothing tasted good at all. Stick with basic foods, protein, veggies, fruit, rice, quinoa. Then add in some gluten-free breads and things later on. People rave about Udi's. I make my own using Pamela's mix. Tinkyada pasta is awesome. Wylde pretzels are fantastic. Poke around on this site and you'll see what people have recommended.

Good luck!

[psawyer]

I am a 55 year old male, and have had diagnosed osteoporosis for eight years. The malnutrition caused by celiac disease has many effects, and this is just one of them.

[Gemini]

but here is my question

my mom had bad osteo, i wonder if any men develop osteo or is this just for women who are celiacs, and now my poor kidd who 25 has some syptoms. but i also had sjogrens pronounced show-grins auto immune only like 4 mill have it in the usa, it attacks the salavary glands, makes your skin dry, eyes dry, mouth dry, for ladies, vagina dry, and there is no cure for this, it also can attakc the pancreas like it did in my case which casued me pancreatitis-auto immune. does anyone else have this awful ai on here also?

I also have Sjogren's Syndrome but my symptoms have improved dramatically on the gluten-free diet. I also use Restasis eye drops and would highly recommend them to anyone with Sjogren's....it's helped tremendously. They are a Rx eye drop. My eyes used to be horrible with dryness and allergy related problems but the longer I am gluten-free, the better they get, along with use of the eye drops. The dry mouth is another story. I combat that with the use of Biotene mouthwash at night before bed and drink a lot of water during the day. It still can be problematic when I am trying to eat but you learn to deal with it. I cannot swallow much of anything without water to wash it down.

I also have been diagnosed with osteopenia and osteoporosis in my spine. I am 51 and that really blows! I also was told recently that a person has to weigh 126 pounds consistently throughout their adult life or you won't have enough weight on your bones to build them using normal activity. I doubt I will ever get my weight up there so I am starting weight training classes this week to re-build my spine. I refuse to take those bio-phosphonates because I do not think they are safe so I am doing it the old fashioned way......exercise. I think I'm going to be very sore for awhile but it will be worth it. The side effects for exercise are much better than meds! I was able to stop any further destruction in my hip through walking but that didn't help my spine, apparently.

These are all Celiac related problems but by following a really healthy diet and exercising regularly, I seem to be getting better all the time.

You can at least improve many Celiac related conditions this way, it's not all hopeless, you just have to do the work.

[Coinkey]

My fiancee is 31, and he has been diagnosed with juxta-osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis. It cropped up in the past year and a half. The doctors say it has progressed as badly as an 80 year old. I have my own suspicions that he has celiac's because of other symptoms he has. He seems to have much better days when he drinks something other than beer and eats my dinner with me. I'm trying to convince him to try going gluten free just as a trial for a month. Maybe his osteo will improve and he'll get to do all the normal things that 31 year old males do- Like dance with me!!!

[ravenwoodglass]

My fiancee is 31, and he has been diagnosed with juxta-osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis. It cropped up in the past year and a half. The doctors say it has progressed as badly as an 80 year old. I have my own suspicions that he has celiac's because of other symptoms he has. He seems to have much better days when he drinks something other than beer and eats my dinner with me. I'm trying to convince him to try going gluten free just as a trial for a month. Maybe his osteo will improve and he'll get to do all the normal things that 31 year old males do- Like dance with me!!!

Can you get him to at least get screened for celiac and then try the diet after testing? He may find that gluten free his arthritis goes into remission. No promises but mine did.

[sb2178]

YES, men can develop it. I'm pretty sure there are a few members on here who were diagnosed after weird fractures. Part of what nudged my diagnoses was a couple of bone scans showing a surprising loss (but not osteoporosis) over 14 months.

Generally, celiacs who only have mild loss normalize after one year on a truly gluten-free diet. You kid, for example, would benefit for gluten-free if celiac/gluten intolerance is the issue. You would too! Bone problems are best prevented rather than treated.

Like the poster above said, exercise, a good diet (plently of produce), calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, etc are all important. And those all natural foods are your best sources and they will definitely taste better than the processed stuff.

I've found a pancake mix I like, asain rice noodles, rice paper wrappers, dairy, corn tortillas, larabars, and chocolate. Pretty much everything else is as it came off the plant or animal. you'll make it and probably feel 200 hundred times better.

[chasbari]

Sjogren's, Rheumatoid arthritis, Osteopenia, reynauds and I also am a male. I would have a bone density scan if I were you to determine whether you have it or not. My bone scan numbers were borderline headed to osteoporosis after living with undiagnosedceliac all those years. Sever dental complications as well. Makes sense when you consider that the body will do anything necessary to maintain calcium levels in the blood and thus leach from the largest stores in the body.. the bones and teeth. I have gone paleo with my diet and as a result all symptoms of the aforementioned have gone into what I would consider remission. I do suppose I should have my eyes checked more closely but it has been a matter of finding a doctor who understands celiac in the first place.

[tarnalberry]

Osteoporosis in men and younger women is one of the signals for testing for celiac. Unfortunately, a lot of doctors don't know this (because they can't keep up on all the NIH recommendations). He should insist on testing to get to the root of the problem, including celiac disease (which can cause osteo in otherwise unusual populations due to malabsorption). It's linked to other autoimmune disease like rheumatoid arthritis.