Hidden celiac disease symptoms make diagnosis difficult. Tests for celiac are only run if suspected. These lesser known symptoms will throw your doctor off.
Lets start with the common symptoms:
- abdominal bloating and pain
- chronic diarrhea
- vomiting
- constipation
- pale, foul-smelling, or fatty stool
- weight loss
Many think that in the absense of at least one of these symptoms, celiac disease can be ruled out, however, take a look at theseless common symptoms that appear to be another disease all of their own but can actually be caused by celiac disease:
- Bone or joint pain
- Bone loss or osteoporosis
- Depression or anxiety
- Fatigue
- Irritability
- Tingling numbness in the hands and feet
- Seizures
- Missed menstrual periods
- Infertility or recurrent miscarriage
- Canker sores inside the mouth
- Itchy skin rash (dermatitis herpetiformis)
- Pancreas Disorders
- Autoimmune Endocrinopathies
- Type I diabetes
- Thyroid autoimmunity
- Parathyroid
- Addison’s disease
- Polyglandular autoimmunity
- Autoimmune liver disease
- Sjögren’s syndrome
- Colon cancer
- Schizophrenia
- Bacterial overgrowth
- Acid reflux
- Arthritis
- Dairy intolerance
This is a partial list, but as you can see, gluten can have a very widespread and distructive effect on the body. If you were diagnosed with diabetes for example, you would probably not suspect celiac disease as the root cause and most likely your doctor wouldn’t either. Especially n0t your doctor, since you would see a specialist who by definition, only knows about thier narrow field, at least in most cases, and would get on with treating the symptoms without considering the cause as being gluten-related.
What is your experience with hidden celiac disease symptoms? Please leave a comment.