10 Unknown Signs and Symptoms of Gluten Intolerance
Published on www.ndtvfood.com
The question I often get asked how I discovered that my 5 year old had Celiac. The truth is it very tough to get diagnosed. While I have listed a few symptoms down. My tip to all parents is to be vigilant and map your child’s growth from birth that is height and weight. Don’t compare siblings or with friends. Just track your own. Some of the classic symptoms are mentioned below:
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Diarrhoea
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Stomach Pain
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Vomiting
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Bloating
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Fatigue
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Brain Fog
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Wind
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Low Blood Count (Anaemia)
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Osteoporosis
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Rash on the Body/ private parts
Gluten Intolerance can be of three types wheat allergy, Celiac Disease and Non-Celiac Sensitivity. Symptoms for all three are similar and the level of positive or negative to tests defines the level of gluten intolerance.
Wheat Allergy is when someone is allergic to wheat grain only and might not be allergic to the protein called “gluten”. Symptoms of wheat allergy can range from mild to life threatening. Severe difficulty breathing called anaphylaxis. Currently, Celiac Disease has no cure and requires a person to be on a 100% gluten free diet. When I keep saying this word 100% Gluten Free it means no cross contamination in the environment. Honestly the hardest part is to be complaiant at all times. This is the biggest challenge for most patients and specially kids.
Celiac Disease is a serious genetic autoimmune disorder where the ingestion of protein gluten found in wheat, rye, oats and barley leads to damage in the small intestine. It is estimated to affect 1 in 100 people worldwide.
If Celiac Disease goes undiagnosed the failure to absorb nutrients during critical years of growth and development can lead to health problems such as failure to thrive in infants, delayed puberty in adolescents, short stature and weight loss and infertility at a later stage.
Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity: Is intolerance to the protein gluten found in wheat, rye, oats and barley. But either the blood test or the biopsy is negative. These people experience better gut conditions when not consuming wheat, rye, oats and barley. But often suffer the diagnose isn’t complete. A lot other food allergy conditions such as FODMAP have been diagnosed with people suffering from non-celiac gluten sensitivity.
The truth is it is very tough to diagnose gluten intolerance/Celiac Disease sometimes a person can have these signs and still go undiagnosed and keep suffering till they reach old age and by then the venial is very badly damaged and all the nutrients have been drained out of the body.
I feel very fortunate that my son was diagnosed at a very early stage. Mannat was just 5 years old. Some of the signs be had that made me realize that something was wrong were that his shoe size didn’t increase for a whole year, his weight hadn’t increased though he had grown taller at a slower rate, he was biting his nails, constantly complained of stomach ache. When the doctor checked his growth had slowed down from 95 percentile to 75 percentile. Fortunately, it had not affected his work he started to read and won his first Chess Tournament.
Awareness is the key to handling any problem.
Like President Barack Obama says “Our destiny is not written for us but by us”