On a post I did yesterday about the importance of testing for gluten reactions, a reader shared in a comment a very common misconception with the best of intentions.... Most people who have a true gluten intolerance will get abdominal pain or discomfort and cramps with loose stool and/or diarrhea. Also, Testing will only tell if you have celiac disease. I dont post about this to single out the commenter. I am posting because these are far too common MISconceptions. In a true Celiac, this is where you will have the abdominal symptoms as being prevalent. However, in contrast, for those with non-celiac gluten sensitivity, neurological symptoms and symptoms OUTSIDE the gut will be more common than gut symptoms. In fact, here is the quote from world leading researcher Dr Alessio Fasano on the common symptoms of gluten sensitivity... In gluten sensitivity, there is often a prevalence of extraintestinal instead of gastrointestinal symptoms, including behavioral changes, skin rash, bone or joint pain, muscle cramps, leg numbness, weight loss, foggy mind, and fatigue. (source huffingtonpost/sz-berg/celiac-disease_b_1770781.html) So please, just because you DO NOT have gut symptoms, you are not excluded from having a gluten intolerance. Second, when it comes to testing, it is actually RARE for the testing to tell that you have Celiac disease. To be diagnosed with Celiac, not only do you have to show up with the gluten reaction, you also need to show up with the genetic marker, AND have COMPLETE destruction of the villi in your gut on intestinal biopsy. Additionally, the technical diagnosis usually requires you to be gluten free for one year after diagnosis, then eat gluten for one year, and then retest. So, testing is actually very important for knowing if you have a gluten reaction and is more accurate than a gluten challenge. There are far too many patients who mistakenly think they are ok with gluten after a challenge because they felt little or no change when they went GF and then when they reintroduced it. Often times the reaction is a slow, imperceptible destruction of the thyroid, or the pancreas, or brain, or bone, etc. Just make sure you get proper, thorough lab testing, like what Cyrex does. I am curious to know how many of you out there also had read on other sites that testing could only diagnose Celiac disease and that gut symptoms were the most commone symptoms of a gluten reaction. Please share! Also, please share this post so that we can get this accurate info out there to help people from still following inaccurate ideas about gluten reactions vs Celiac disease. Thanks!
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 15:00:01 +0000
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