Gluten allergy can be confused with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.
They are somewhat related.
According to the purist definition of an allergy, a gluten allergy is very rare.
If you take a broader view, it is more common than you might suppose.
There are reasons for understanding the difference between gluten allergy and celiac disease, and we’ll go into them in this article.
The end result is the same though: you must go on a gluten free diet to avoid symptoms.
A gluten allergy, like any other food allergy, is when your body’s immune system reacts against gluten, resulting in any number of food allergy symptoms.
Specific symptoms, along with the severity of each one, varies from one person to the next. Common complaints are fatigue, brain-fog and stomach upset.
There is no know cause for a gluten allergy, any more than the known cause for any other food allergy.
A gluten allergy could appear early in life, and then disappear as the child grows older, or it could appear later in life, either vanishing some years later, or hanging around for the rest of your life.
If you have a gluten allergy (rather than celiac disease), you can make your own decision as to how severe the symptoms are, and if it is worth avoiding gluten sometimes or always to avoid the symptoms.
Warning: The paragraph above does NOT apply to celiac disease, which is quite different. Read the next section for details.
Gluten Allergy vs. Celiac Disease
Compare this with celiac, which is quite different.
Celiac disease is caused by gluten triggering a genetic disposition. Anyone with celiac disease in their genetic makeup should avoid gluten, even if they do not have symptoms.
More and more, research is showing a whole host of diseases that appear in people with “sub-clinical” celiac disease. In other words, you may not have the classic symptoms of celiac disease, but you may be destroying your health by eating gluten.
This is one of the major differences between gluten allergy and celiac disease.
Gluten Allergy – What To Do About It
If you have a self-diagnosed gluten allergy, the first thing you should do is get tested for celiac disease. A biopsy is not such a good idea, because avoiding gluten heals the guts in celiacs, so a biopsy would give a false negative (indicate there is not celiac disease when if fact there is).
As horrible as it sounds, for best results, you must eat gluten before getting your celiac test.
If your test shows that you have a gluten allergy rather than celiac disease, you have more options.
Your best bet is to go on a complete gluten free diet. This will eliminate symptoms, and make you much healthier. Your gluten allergy may even disappear (but don’t count on it).
Depending on your allergy, you may be OK if you eat some gluten occasionally, or if gluten accidentally slips into your diet. With a gluten allergy, you can decide what your tolerance for gluten is.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
rash that comes and goes for the last 3 weeks
Ok here it goes. I am 41 year old female. I started getting this rash about 3 /4 weeks ago. i had switched from one laundry soap to Tide. I thought that all the redness and itching was from that. I have rewashed all the clothes. I went back to the old detergent, but I am Still breaking out on my hands. They look like tiny red dots, itchy then welt up then it goes away almost a squick as it comes on. I went to the doc of course no rash then he perscribed some cream he said it was probably contact dermatitis. It did not work. Now the rash is going past my wrists and up my forearms, on my stomach and sometimes show up on my thighs. In the last week I have had it confirmed that i have wheat, gluten and dairy allergies. I think I have had for quite a while but again the rash is new to me. It seem like it might be getting better…..could it be that it is my bodys way of getting everything out of my system? Could it be something else? I thought maybe an allergy to another medication……I quit taking it for a few days, rash still showed up. At this point I have given up wheat and dairy for almost 2 weeks try to watch everything I take in only drink water. I feel like I am going crazy……..Can anyone help me?
Rashes are hard to diagnose
The trouble with rashes is they’re hard to diagnose.
It seems that most dermatologists mask the symptoms with cream, but don’t look for the actual cause.
With luck, cutting out gluten/wheat/milk will do the trick for you.
Latex is another possible cause (do you use rubber gloves?)
Research DH, celiac disease. DH gives you a rash. You would need to go on a completely gluten free diet. There are a lot of products that have gluten in it that most people would never think of, which is why you may still have the rash if gluten is still sneaking in your diet. Most people don’t think that hot dogs have gluten in them or salad dressings, but they can and do. It may be totally different than what I am saying, but if you still have the rash, it may make sense to look up pictures of DH on the web to see if it’s the same rash you have. I do have celiac disease, but not DH. Hope that helps.
Hello-
I hd the exact same thing happen to me about 2 1/2 years ago. i started getting a rash on my hand for month then it became to spread to all parts of my body inclduing my face. Someone suggested it might be a gluten allergy. I gave up gluten for the most part and the rash would only appear when i ate it. The whole thing is very odd. I have never found anyone with the same symptoms.
I see you posted quiet a while ago so hopefully you already found your cure.
Lynn, not sure if my post may be too late but I had the same rash. I am celiac and have broken out b4 from that but that rash was different to what u are describing (the spots were bigger and painful). That said, as crazy as this sounds, are u on the pill? Seriously! I had to go on the pill for endo earlier 2009 I was fine for the first 4ish months then it must have kicked in and caused me all sorts of problem!! One of them being a rash that started on the back of my right hand that eventually spread up my arm while at some point had spread to my left hand. It sent me crazy! Itchy as hell, would go really red and then calm down. When it was calm u had to look really close at my arms to even see it as they were quite small, I was constantly complaining for months. I blamed stress, laundry powder, soap, heat, jewerely (I already have sensitive skin so can’t wear fake stuff). I used creams, saw drs was given that perscription cream that takes layers of ur skin off. After a visit to my GP again we were talking about the pill as I wanted to come off it, she said no and I was quite angry when I walked out as it was putting me through hell! I walked out of there, new script for the pill in one hand and a ref to see specialist about my rash in the other! As I was desperate to take myself off the pill, I started googling mainly to make sure I was making an educated decision! Came across a blog from a girl that mentioned a similar rash, didn’t really think much about it at the time! I took myself off it and the very same rash a GP said it was there to stay and had scarred my skin. My rash was gone in about a month or so and skin back to normal!!!
Thanks for sharing your story Elisa.
There can be so many different causes for the same symptoms, so it is important to know about them all, especially if previous ideas didn’t work.
I have the same thing
Ever figure out what it was?
Rash
My brother has a rash like that. I have celiac disease so he thinks it could be a symptom of that since it’s hereditary. Let me know if anyone finds out for sure.
Your brother should test for celiac disease
Your brother should get tested for celiac disease. Not because of his symptoms, but because of the hereditary aspect.
Celiac disease has serious ‘non-classical’ symptoms that may not show up for years.
rash-itchy discolored skin in an area on body
my chest and between breasts very itchy and flakey skin … thought it was a heat rash from my work which intails lots of physical work, so sweat lots… but have been off work for awhile and it is still there?????????? Help me!!!! i think maybe yeast from foods like bread ect…. which i love to eat but am not tired after eating it, so????
Allergy symptoms are different for different people
One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to work out if they have allergies, and what they might be allergic to, is looking for a specific list of symptoms that match a specific allergy.
Allergies and fatigue do tend to go together, but it might not be a defining symptom for you.
So try cutting out the foods you suspect and see if that helps.
Also consider the clothing you wear and if that might be part of the problem.
“breaking out on my hands. They look like tiny red dots, itchy then welt up then it goes away almost a squick as it comes on. I went to the doc of course no rash then he perscribed some cream he said it was probably contact dermatitis. It did not work.”
I have the exact same thing. This is the first description I’ve read anywhere that matches what I have. Many people talk about other areas but I get this on my hands (many years ago I did get something similar on my nose and forehead but that quickly went away…the problem with my hands is very different). It started several years ago, but recently, I’ve had horrible attacks of pain about 30min after eating any product with gluten. I am negative for Celiac (was tested…cost $125). The reaction starts off as very small dots/pustules and they seem to stay localized to certain fingers or areas of the back of the hand, but may spread slightly over time if I don’t try to contain it (using ‘contain’ just because I have no other way to explain it). I’ve been prescribed corticosteriod creams (varying strengths and brands) so many times now from so many doctors I’m sick of it. The term contact dermatitis has become an annoyance for me. They have no clue what it is. The cream makes the appearance of these break-outs blurred because they heal more like a burn afterwards (subsequent break-outs can become like cracks or fissures but that’s due to the way the cream is healing the open pustules), but the true appearance is this tiny pustules you describe. This is not contagious in any way and will not easily spread anywhere (some fingers are fine, others have it…some areas of the back of the hand have it, others are fine). Mine begin each fall when the weather gets dry. They last all the way through until summer when the weather is warmer and my hands aren’t as dry. I constantly use various moisturizing cream on my hands in the winter but they always come. I can temporarily make them go away with calendula tincture or the corticosteriod cream, or a combination, but they always come back. Often the cream is only effective for a few days and they come back. They will dry out on their own but then that cracks the skin and I end up with cracked knuckles or open skin on the top of my fingers and hands. I wear nitrile gloves at work (non-latex environment) and only for brief periods of up to 30min maybe twice a day so no it’s not gloves. I’ve even used various brands of gloves including additional cotton liners and vinyl gloves. The hand reaction still comes each fall/winter and goes away in the summer. Eventually I started to wonder if it was a food allergy but after trying to eliminate different foods one at a time, I still couldn’t figure it out. I even went on a naturopathic clense for 4months and it made me feel slightly better but not really. The Naturpath ordered a full range of blood test. The only thing that came back slightly odd was an elevated biliruben. In the past few weeks I have been having horrible attacks of localized stomach pain (not reflux) along with horrible bloating and gas that can only be relived by burping (well, it’s true). This comes on about 30min after eating any product with gluten (spelt, wheat, even a granola bar and roasted nuts, etc). The severity and duration depend on how much I eat. If I eat a small amount the pain may last 2hrs. Last week I had a sandwich because I didn’t believe it was happening and then suffered in agonizing pain on the bathroom floor from 1-7pm. So, it’s very real. Since then I’ve had a myriad of gests (UGI, abdomen US, urine analysis, blood tests for various diseases, chest x-ray, etc.). Everything came back normal except a slighly elevated white blood count but the physician thought that was due to seasonal allergies (which are just starting). My hands just broke out last week though. I’ve since gone on a gluten-free diet and I haven’t had any pain and my hands are slowly healing.
If anyone has any ideas what this is (again, Celiac testing came back negative when I was still eating gluten…had an attack for 3hrs the night before the test), please let me know.
The only things I can come up with are: non-Celiac gluten sensitivity or allergy, Gilbert’s syndrome (slightly elevated biliruben and mild jaundice at birth), some strange mold-related issue because the home I am in has some mold in a bathroom upstairs (but I’ve moved several times and the hand breakout always follows the same pattern). I am allergic to something that blooms in April-May and goldenrod in the fall. I am also allergic to cigarette smoke.
Thanks.
It is gluten intolerance, not Celiac. There’s varying degrees of intolerance. I have gluten intolerance and the hand break out is the first sign ive been glutened and the last thing to heal. My goodness, don’t people listen to their bodies anymore? Dont rely on Western medicine…just do what your gut tells you, literally. STOP EATING GLUTEN. I dont care what the tests say or dont say. You have Gluten Intolerance
Hi everyone! JMO…as a MD and eczema sufferer for about 7 years now, I am very intrigued by this. Funny thing, even in the profession with lots of friends as allergists, dermatologists and internists, it took some real significant testing and elimination to get close to figure out what has always been ideopathic for me (undetermined derma inflamation – or, aka, atopic eczema). Most of the “friends” in the profession chalk these things up to winter eczema or run RAST tests, or rudimentary blood work. You really need to look at IgA,G,M and some other autoimmune panels for base levels and follow up six months and a year later.
Personally, I noticed some elevated serum IgA and decreased IgM levels which leads me to suspect food sensitivities consistent with either glutten or yeast allergies. I am in the middle of a glutten and yeast free diet and was feeling pretty good until, two nights ago…. I had my first beer in a month and a glass of wine the next day. My arms started to flare and itch starting around the elbow area. Ah ha! No glutten and yeast for two months and all of a sudden, eczema!
I am a pretty avid athlete, eating for energy efficiency, so I can live without the glutten and yeast. I will miss some of these foods, but life is tough and as long as I can keep inflammatory processes at bay, it is what it is. The point is go to a good auto-immunologist who will spend a few hours with you, shell out about grand or two (yep, can’t even begin to get into the quality of insured care and why the profession has become this way) for the blood work and profiling, and start with an elimination diet. The alternative is topical and oral steroids.
Thanks very much for your detailed comments Alan. Great to get detailed info from an MD.
Glad you finally sorted it out!
hi… i started getting these rashed that come and go . iate chicken nuggets last week and i look down and my chest is bright red and extremely itchy. a few days later after dinner, my neck was bright red and itchy. yesteray i ate potatoes and my eye lids and under my eyes were burning and itchy, ive never had food allergies nor have i really suffered from them at all ever. my skin feels like its burning and i am not comfortable at all. i dont know if its gluten cause mainly when i eat i get a visable rash every other time in the day i get these non visable rashes. please help