Can Mono Trigger Celiac Disease?

[Kelevandras]

Hello,

I had Mono 5 years ago and it seems that I just never got better. Two years ago I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism and last month I was diagnosed with Celiacs. IGG and IGA like a hundred more than normal. Before Mono I had tons of energy, could eat anything without ill effect, no pains, just enjoying life. So I am wondering if perhaps the mono triggered the celiacs? Does anyone have a similar experience or have info reguarding this suspiscion? Any insight would be great!!!

[jerseyangel]

Hello,

I had Mono 5 years ago and it seems that I just never got better. Two years ago I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism and last month I was diagnosed with Celiacs. IGG and IGA like a hundred more than normal. Before Mono I had tons of energy, could eat anything without ill effect, no pains, just enjoying life. So I am wondering if perhaps the mono triggered the celiacs? Does anyone have a similar experience or have info reguarding this suspiscion? Any insight would be great!!!

Hi and welcome.

Mono can definitely trigger Celiac--I've seen many here over the years who feel that their symptoms began after a bout.

Mine kicked into high gear after a bad case of influenza.

[Kelevandras]

Hi and thanks! Are there studies out there? It would be interesting to see how often that occurs.If that is the case then why don't doctors check for those things in the first place if they have a good case history?

I had to literally doctor hop to figure out what the heck was wrong with me after Mono. I knew it was time to find a new doc when they asked "are you depressed?" ( I got that one twice), until I finally got my answers. I have the feeling that I would not be out of place here to say that " Wow most doctors suck."

[Skylark]

Mine kicked into high gear after a bad case of influenza.

Wow - mine too! I had gluten issues all along, including a childhood wheat allergy, but a severe flu where I ran a fever for days was the start of all my depression and fatigue that has since resolved gluten-free.

Mono can trigger celiac. There are a couple old case studies in the medical literature but you would have to go looking for them. So can Campylobacter food poisoning.

[mushroom]

Mono triggered both celiac and CFS in my niece.

Bottom line, doctors cannot solve the celiac jigsaw puzzle. Maybe we are better at it because we see the picture on the front of the box - all they see is unrelated (to them) pieces.

[shopgirl]

Definitely. I've traced my symptoms back to an interminable bout of bronchitis I had my freshman year of college

[Februaryrich]

Mono triggered gluten/dairy intolerance here!

[Duhlina]

Huh. Funny you mention this. I had never put it together, but now that I think about it I think it may have been the trigger for me too. I've always had celiac symptoms, right back to the 7th grade, but about 2-3 years ago I was so exhausted I was falling asleep at red lights. I had all kinds of tests run and the doctor said I had "recurring mono" (hubby did too at the same time)....but I had never had mono before! After that bout of mono, I just never felt like I fully recovered 100%.

[Februaryrich]

Huh. Funny you mention this. I had never put it together, but now that I think about it I think it may have been the trigger for me too. I've always had celiac symptoms, right back to the 7th grade, but about 2-3 years ago I was so exhausted I was falling asleep at red lights. I had all kinds of tests run and the doctor said I had "recurring mono" (hubby did too at the same time)....but I had never had mono before! After that bout of mono, I just never felt like I fully recovered 100%.

Are you a diagnosed celiac?

[ElseB]

Any kind of severe physical or emotional stress can trigger it. In my case it was C.Difficile.

[Myou]

Add another ex-Mono Celiac to the list, here. Just like you, I got Mono in my teens...and I was devastated when it just "never went away." In fact, it only seemed to get worse. However, because the symptoms were so "atypical" (manifesting as joint pain, muscle wasting, fatigue, rapid weight loss), I wasn't diagnosed with Celiac Disease for another ten years, once all those sexy bowel issues became more than I could handle.

Mononucleosis really is one of those socially underrated, yet extremely powerful childhood diseases, and I can certainly see why there is keen suspicion of a link between that kind of overwhelming immune system disruption, and the triggering of autoimmune diseases.

[Februaryrich]

Add another ex-Mono Celiac to the list, here. Just like you, I got Mono in my teens...and I was devastated when it just "never went away." In fact, it only seemed to get worse. However, because the symptoms were so "atypical" (manifesting as joint pain, muscle wasting, fatigue, rapid weight loss), I wasn't diagnosed with Celiac Disease for another ten years, once all those sexy bowel issues became more than I could handle.

Mononucleosis really is one of those socially underrated, yet extremely powerful childhood diseases, and I can certainly see why there is keen suspicion of a link between that kind of overwhelming immune system disruption, and the triggering of autoimmune diseases.

My story is similar to yours, minus 9 years. Did you not have bowel issues for like 10 years? I don't quite understand. May I ask if you gained the lost weight back?

[Myou]

My story is similar to yours, minus 9 years. Did you not have bowel issues for like 10 years? I don't quite understand. May I ask if you gained the lost weight back?

I apologize for not being very clear, Februaryrich. I'll try to better explain.

When my symptoms first began, they started up right after a particularly bad bout of Mono. Suddenly, an active 15 year old was swept up in a storm of joint pain and weakness, which were my main symptoms for about three years. I went to many doctors with these symptoms, but they were unconvinced due to how vague my complaints seemed. However, at about the three-year-mark, I do recall noticing some stomach problems when eating certain foods, but I couldn't make the connection. I had some cramping and some occasional diarrhea, but I don't think I thought it was relevant. It probably didn't help that I was also a pretty shy teenager, who wouldn't find it very "polite" to speak of such "indignities." (Happily, I don't have that problem anymore.)

At about that same time, I began losing a lot of weight. People (and GPs) started to suspect I was anorexic. Yet, my main complaints were still very vague, and easily dismissed by any physician I visited.

Four years in, things got...weird. I was having rashes, fevers, joint swelling, and terrible headaches. My eyelids were puffy, my fingers and toes were turning blue in mildly chilly weather. My mouth was full of sores, and I slept 12 hours a day without any release from exhaustion. "All your blood tests are fine," I was told. I just needed to live with it (since it was obviously a psychological problem, dontchya know), and, well, I suppose I kinda did, floating around miserably for years in this medical limbo. If things got bad, or a new symptom popped up on my ever-growing laundry list of problems (like once I developed fainting and arrhythmia), I went to see a new doc. They still couldn't help me, even the well meaning ones.

Yet, despite all that, it wasn't until about 8 years into this whole ordeal that my intestines just finally...couldn't take it anymore. It seemed like over night I was suddenly having stomach issues. Again, I visited doctors who found this newest problem more troubling, but durnit, NO MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL I SAW HERE COULD PIECE THIS MONSTER TOGETHER! Over the next two years, it got so bad that I was afraid to leave the house for fear of not being near a bathroom.

Out of desperation, I began some intense research, and stumbled upon the topic of Celiac Disease online. I brought this up to my doctor at the time, who hadn't even considered it an option. We did an elimination diet test, and my life changed forever. (Even if it was a rough road at first.)

I did gradually gain the weight back, and now hover in the low-normal range for my height. Which, believe me, is a great improvement.

I'm coming up to a full year now on my gluten free life change, and I can happily say that about 90% of my original problems are completely gone! However, I have a lot of healing to do, I am told, and am still recovering from a lot of damage.

[Duhlina]

Are you a diagnosed celiac?

I tested low positive on the blood test and I am going for an endoscopy on Monday to confirm. So yes, I believe I'm a diagnosed celiac.

[Mandylea12]

WOW ....after reading all the posts here I think I may know whats wrong with my mother! We have been trying to find a diagnosis for her since August of 2011. She started rapidly losing weight(50 lbs total), would NOT eat, extreme fatigue, fibromyalgia, depression, and deficiencies in every vitamin with anemia! She ended up having a feeding tube and still to this day cannot eat but every few days. She is slowly getting better but the only thing she EVER tested positive for is the antibodies for mono. Not until I recently got diagnosed with a wheat intolerance did I think she could have celiac disease, because of the high hereditary rate. I stated researching and stumbled upon this blog. Thanks for the info. She sees Mayo Clinic docs so maybe they will help me understand all this.

[Mom-of-Two]

Yes!!

I didn't have mono but a ruptured appendix with a 7 day ICU stay due to sepsis five years ago-- had to undergo open abdominal surgery and a difficult recovery. I also feel the extended antibiotics due to all of that contributed to gut issues. I of course had the IV medsin hospital but at least 4 weeks of antibiotics beyond that.

I fully believe stress, illness, or any trauma to the body can bring celiac and other autoimmune issues to life.

[mushroom]

It did for my niece.

[BabsV]

Mine seemed to trigger after a particularly nasty virus -- thought it was just a stomach flu at the time but it laid me out for days. Three weeks later the slippery slope of symptoms began. I think I was lucky to be diagnosed in less than a year. I was fine up until I caught that virus.

[CeliacAndCfsCrusader]

Add me to the list, but it wasn't Mono, I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrom. I have family in the medical field and no amount of guidance/suggestions would lead me to Celiac until 20 years later (after a car accident which I thought gave me "peripheral neuropathy....low and behold it's Celiac).

I adjusted my lifestyle after being diagnosed with CFS and got mostly better, but never "right". Exertion of any kind would fatigue me.

So, the good news is that being off of gluten has eliminated the physical symptoms of CFS. The bad news is that the car accident replaced them with other symptoms. :-)

Why the smiley? There's hope for car accident recovery and little hope for CFS (....CFS, like any other serious health issue, made be a better,, more understanding person and I'm grateful for that).

Silver linings, we all end up looking for them or creating them if we can't find them. Onward!

[hexon]

I believe my gluten intolerance was triggered after C. diff. At the time I was tested for celiac because of the stomach pain and D, not thinking that C. diff would've been the dx in a healthy 20 year old not on antibiotics. It came back negative. My last doctors appointment in November was negative for recurrent C. diff and I didn't think to get retested for celiac. Oh well, guess I'll never know unless they come up with a new test. It's intriguing to see everyone else's' experiences.

[pricklypear1971]

Mono has been mentioned many times in my readings over the years as an autoimmune trigger.

Try googling "autoimmune trigger" and see what you come up with.

I had a great sheet about endometriosis and autoimmune diseases that I can't find. But it was a great listing of triggers.

[aliceintown]

That's really interesting, I had glandular fever (i.e. mono) for a couple of years before I found out I was celiac. Never told once by a doctor though.

[CJCarter]

Wow! I just google searched this and can't believe how many other people this is frustrating for. I can't believe the medical community hasn't put these things together yet!

 

I had mono 10 years ago and ever since then, certain things have just never been right with my body. Nothing too serious, my whole family is in the medical field so I don't actually like to bother doctors with small symptoms. I guess over the years I just started to accept things as normal. Well this time I think my body has reached its apex. I am not diagnosed with Celiacs but I am almost 100% positive I have a gluten sensitivity after reading all of this.

I had blood work done because I didn't know what was wrong with me. I suspected either, thyroid, anemia or CFS. Since all my blood tests for thyroid were in the "normal" range they aren't looking at that further. The only things that were weird on my blood work was low iron, low B12 and low Vit D. The iron I was attributing to my heavy menstrual cycle, that has always been the case. But the Vit D and B12 made me think wait! B12 deficiency is usually seen in the elderly because of malabsoprtion. So why am I, a 27 year old have B12 deficiency?! After talking to a friend with Fibro and she told me about going gluten-free and how its helped her I started researching. Gluten intolerance can cause absorption problems with all those same nutrients as well as have the same symptoms as celiacs!  Why do I have to figure all these things out!!

 

Anyways, I am only just beginning my gluten-free journey, like today! So we will see if my suspicions are correct, but I have a feeling after everything I have seen it will be a big improvement in my CFS/fatigue symptoms. 

 

Thanks everyone for contributing!