Here's A Possible Connection Between Celiac And

[Jnkmnky]

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So, consider this scenario...Your mother is pregnant with you and she has Celiac Disease. She doesn't realize it and while she is pregnant with you, she is malnurished and you are malnurished. You are born, you develop Celiac disease, or not, but also are more susceptible to developing schizophrenia. I was wondering WHY, WHY, WHY there was a "link" to schizophrenia a few weeks ago. This would explain a connection, or a higher risk.

[Jonesy]

Hi jnkmnky

That was an interesting link. It does make sense.

I'm particularly interested in the link between celiac and Schizophrenia. My brother was diagnosed with Schizophrenia in the 1950's.

Then in the 1980's a granddaughter was diagnosed with Manic Depressive disorder. They asked about a family link, but we didn't know of any except for my brothers Schizo. Their Dr. told them that Schz was often mis-diagnosed in the 50's in people who were really Manic Depressive.

My understanding is that they both come from the same gene and , in fact, that there is a continuum that goes from Depression, alcoholism, ADD etc. at one end to Schizo at the extreme end. I don't have a link or any documentation on that, but a cousin of mine told us that her research on Behavioral Disorders led her to that information. I'll contact her and see if she can give me a link or a source for documentation.

My Father was alcoholic and Diabetic. His diabetic diagnosis was made in the 1930's when he was in his 30's. My own reasoning tells me that it probably wasn't type II onset, but was no doubt Type I. I never heard any such differentation made in those days.

I am the first in my family to be diagnosed with Celiac, but pondering on where the family connection might be, I can easily see that my Father and His mother fit into the symptoms. And I see my brother as fitting the profile (tho' there is no typical celiac), but he had some pretty classic symptoms.

Your mother's malnourishment could have influenced the genetic pre-disposition which could have come from her or your father.

Have you established that your mother or father were Celiacs?

The possibility of links of Celiac to many other autoimmune diseases is awesome, and I find it quite fascinating. My interest is not to question "Why Me?" or "Why, Why, Why". My interest is in passing in whatever knowledge I can gain from my illness to enlighten and alert my descendants so they can live more healthy lives.

If you find out anything more, let us know. When we get all the puzzle pieces in place, we'll feel we made sense of the thing.

Regards

Maryellen

[Jnkmnky]

Jonesy,

Thanks for the response. I've been tested for celiac disease as have my two other children and we're cleared of any celiac disease gene and sensitivity. The Celiac is coming from my husband's side of the family. He comes from a large Irish family with a staggering history of health issues that all sound like celiac disease. My inlaws are very against the discovery of my son's Celiac. They thought I was barbaric for suggesting this genetic disease may have something to do with them.

Anyway, not knowing WHY some of these other, more serious diseases, disorders are linked to C.D. frustrates me. I am afraid of diseases such as Lupus, Schizophrenia, R.A. ...and more. These are difficult health issues. Celiac seems so tame in comparison! I'd heard about the link between C.D. and schizophrenia and it bothered me that a "link" is so casually tossed about without the reason for the link. I was so happy to see this article on my homepage today. It lead me to the study it was based on, so I was even happier. I suppose, if this is truely the "link", than my son wouldn't be affected as I do not have C.D. and didn't suffer from malnutrition during my pregnancy as my 40lb weight gain can attest to!

I noticed you asking about my parents... There's no celiac there. Sorry for any confusion!

[Jnkmnky]

Sorry, Jonesy... I re-read your post and the confusion was mine! Typical.

[Jnkmnky]

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Jonesy, this may be the link you referred to. Hmmmm. Makes sense. I think the theory that an unborn child who is being malnurished by it's malnurished celiac disease mother makes more and more sense. I remember when I had morning sickness I was worried about the babies not getting enough nutrition to grow, but my dr told me I had plenty of nutrition stored up to get through the worst of the morning sickness. I would guess that a pregnant woman with undiagnosed celiac disease would NOT have enough nutrition "stored up" in her body.

[Jnkmnky]

They should test all pregnant women for celiac disease. That would prevent the severe malnutrition of an undx celiac disease pregnant woman starving and malnurishing her unborn baby and increasing it's risk for schizophrenia whether or not the baby has celiac disease.

[mommida]

Jnkmnky,

I am glad you posted this link and added to the collection of information here. I think the screening should be done prior to pregnancy though. There is too much development in the the first 6 weeks of pregnancy, when the mother may not even know she is pregnant.

Laura

[Merika]

Jnkmnky,

The study you posted was for *severely* malnourished mothers. Most of us with long-undiagnosed celiac are malnourished, but not nearly to the extent of women in famine conditions. I think in a situation where otherwise healthy adults are dying of famine, having a 2-fold increase in schizophrenia among babies is pretty remarkable in that it was so low.

I had undiagnosed celiac while pregnant (10 yrs+ at the time), but I gained 35 pounds and had a very healthy child. I was not even anemic. Come to think of it, I was healthier in pregnancy than I had been in a long long time - hormones affect celiac a lot, IMO. I also had unrestricted access to food - I may not have been getting *every* nutrient possible from it, but I got a lot.

I also had a childhood with ample food and vitamin/mineral reserves for the baby to draw off of. Growing fetuses and nursing babies do not depend solely on what the mother eats that day for nutrition; they will leach the calcium right out of your bones if your daily intake is not enough.

It is an interesting study. But I would not easily cross-apply it to our situation here in a first world country where food is so abundant that the majority (!) of the population is obese. I think there is something to it for future scientific investigation, but there is very little we can do with the information at this point, so try not to worry too much.

As for the schizophrenics here in the US, I have read that celiac can manifest itself primarily as a brain/personality disorder, and not have the diahrea, etc that is more common. These folks also respond very well to the gluten-free diet, and the hallucinations and other schizophrenic symptoms can disappear when gluten is no longer eaten. It doesn't work for all schizophrenics, just for the ones with celiac-induced schizophrenia.

Hth,

Merika

[Jnkmnky]

They've acutally identified a "celiac induced schizophrenia"?

[Merika]

They've acutally identified a "celiac induced schizophrenia"?

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Well, that might be my term, not theirs, I don't remember. But I have read articles where gluten was the problem - inducing halucinations, etc and the patient(s) had previous diagoses of schizophrenia. These symptoms largely cleared up when gluten was removed. I'll give it some thought and see if I can remember where I read this....

Merika