Is It Possible To Not Concieve If You Have Celiac And Still Eat Gluten?

[rds77]

i was diagnosed with celiac when i was two and have never been good at following the diet. i must have built up a tolerance to gluten because although im still a celiac and have occassional stomach problems, i eat gluten all the time and dont have a problem. i developed normally and have my period. if i try to get pregnant and still eat as much gluten as i do could it harm the baby or make it harder to get pregnant?

[GlutenFreeManna]

There is not a lot of research on this, but I will tell you my experience. When I tried to conceive I had 3 miscarriages in less than 3 years. Now I am gluten free and I have not been able to get pregnant, so perhaps my window of time has passed. Other people here have stories of miscarriages and really difficult pregnancies while on gluten, so I believe this is not an unrelated thing. I wish that I had known about the damamge that gluten causes earlier in life. Even if you don't have noticeable symptoms it is doing damage in your body. I hope you will consider being strict since you know you have celiac. There may be symptoms you have that you didn't even realize were related to your consumption of gluten.

[zeta-lilly]

i was diagnosed with celiac when i was two and have never been good at following the diet. i must have built up a tolerance to gluten because although im still a celiac and have occassional stomach problems, i eat gluten all the time and dont have a problem. i developed normally and have my period. if i try to get pregnant and still eat as much gluten as i do could it harm the baby or make it harder to get pregnant?

Yes, infertility is a symptom of celic disease. There are many people who don't notice symptoms of celiac disease, but it's still doing silent damage to your body and it's entirely possible to have infertility as the first symptom of celiac disease that you notice.

Or, you could be like me and get pregnant, but give birth to a child with a birth defect, which isn't uncommon. We were lucky and it was easily correctable, but there are plenty that are not correctable. I've read Down's syndrome and autism are also more common among mothers with undiagnosed celiac disease (meaning they are not compliant with their diet). So the risk isn't JUST that you could miscarry, the risk is that you could also do damage to the fetus. It's understandable that you don't feel any symptoms and so don't want to be on the diet, but it's highly recommended that you stick to the diet while you are pregnant and nursing. If you decide after that to go back to eating gluten, it's up to you. But you really should eat gluten free while pregnant.

[ravenwoodglass]

Yes untreated celiac can cause issues with fertitily and miscarriage as well as early menapause. Doctors are still not sure why. It also can contribute to the formation of many autoimmune diseases, cancers, brain and nervous system disorders, skin problems, mood and psychiatric problems. It is not as hard nowadays to be gluten free as we have so much more options than even 5 years ago. I hope for your health and the health of the baby you hope to carry that you get back on the diet.

[cassP]

PLEASE get off gluten and follow the diet- according to the research center at Columbia University- only 1 in 6 Celiacs have stomach problems... you may feel ok- but it could be doing a lot of damage inside your gut & brain and other organs including your Thyroid. yes- everyone is totally different even within the realm of Celiac-> you could live to be 90 while never completely adhering to the diet... you could have healthy pregnancies... or you could always miscarry, and maybe develop cancer or another autoimmune disease early in your life....

have you had any blood testing in your adult life??? it might be a good idea to periodically get antibody testing- this could show you if your body is secretly rebelling against you....

hope you get on it, and hope you get pregnant when u want

[SGWhiskers]

You've gotten good advice and for your sake as well as your future babies sake, you need to get strict about the diet ASAP. I'll share my story as one example of how celiac can cause fertility problems. Unfortunately, many many posters to this website have worse stories to share.

I started trying to get pregnant when I was 26. I had always had normal periods too. After a year with no success, we went to see a reproductive endocrinologist. We tried some of the pills and injections with no success. By this point, I was getting depressed over the difficulties we were having. We then moved to artificial insemination and after a few cycles, we were told my body was not responding as needed to. We went for testing to start the process of IVF. By this point, the $20,000+ price tag for the likely 3 rounds of IVF was weighing heavily on my mind. My friend were having babies and I needed to distance myself from them so I didn't cry all the time. The lab results came back that I was in perimenopause at 31. I was told we could try one round of IVF, but that we would probably need an egg donor. That cost was around $40,000. I learned that adoption of a special needs child from the state would be low in cost, but that private or international adoption would be nearly as expensive as egg donation. My heart was broken and we started saving money. During this process, my previously silent celiac symptoms started causing other problems. Not only did they make everyday life miserable, the diseases and symptoms were included on lists that prohibited me from adopting in certian countries. I hopped from doctor to specialist searching for a diagnosis. Finally, at 33 I got my celiac diagnosis and started the gluten-free diet. 21 months later, we got pregnant naturally and accidentally. This was my first pregnancy at 35. Baby's due in a couple of months, but the 3 times I accidentally got gluten in, my very active baby stopped moving altogether for 4 days at a time. I know she was either hurting as much as me or she was getting damage from the gluten. We do know that gluten damages the placenta during pregnancy. I take rather large doses of vitamins because my gut damage was so severe, the OB is concerned I'm not passing enough to baby. (The only GI symptoms I had would have been confused with a long stint with food poisoning one spring. After that zero GI problems dispite having the worst staging of damage a celiac can get).

You have the opportunity to avoid this kind of heartbreak or worse by going gluten free now. While it is an adjustment at first and annoying at times later, it is far better than the heartbreak of infertility and every other symptom and disease that can be triggered by celiac. If I could turn back the clock and quit gluten when I was 18, I would do it without hesitation. My career, my marriage, my pain would be better for it. At that time, I wasn't showing symptoms, or if I was, it was subtle. Take care of yourself and best wishe.

[Rowena]

I am not Celiac, and least not via bloodtest though I question with how badly I am affected by gluten, but I figure it works much the same way with intolerance.

I have had pretty regular periods, though I would fluctuate a week or so sometimes. But shortly after getting married, I got pregnant. At six weeks I miscarried though it was forced out at 12 weeks via medication. (I know, I shoulda gotten a DNC but ye live and learn.) We always assumed that the miscarry was just one of those chance happenings that happen the first time around. But I think it was something more than just that. Ever since then, (almost 2 years ago) I have had period irregularity and been unable to conceive, and I had gone for months at a time without a period. At first they blamed it on the miscarry. Then as time progress they believed because of my miscarry I developed PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) even though nothing showed up via blood tests or ultrasounds. So they tested me for Celiac. Negative blood test, symptoms resolved on gluten-free diet.

Its undetermined yet if the gluten really is what affected the infertility and irregularity as I have been on the pill the past year

[JeepWidow]

Please go to a doctor and have a full medical work up before trying to concieving. It will only benefit you and your child. Every parent wants a healthy child and to be healthy so they can see their child grow up and this would be a great first step.

You might be surprised how much damage can be done to your body when you feel well, I know I was. I thought whatever had been wrong with me had gone away (I was not diagnosed when I felt 'sick', it came 8 years later), but I was wrong. Please don't intentionally abuse your body, we only get one :-)

[sb2178]

Yes, and there is some Italian research associating non-compliant with the diet to negative birth outcomes like low birth weight. There are also some horrific stories of awful pregnancies with symptoms like pre-eclampsia, severe and persistent nausea, and more...

Even just the associated anemia can lead to tragic outcomes, assuming you do conceive. Please do communicate with your doctor and seriously work on sticking to the diet. You'll find a lot of helpful resources and suggestions here if you ask!