The Healthy Celiac Podcast

6 Lesser-Known Symptoms of Celiac Disease Ep. 84

November 21, 2022 Season 1 Episode 84
The Healthy Celiac Podcast
6 Lesser-Known Symptoms of Celiac Disease Ep. 84
Show Notes Transcript

Many people are aware of the gastrointestinal symptoms of Celiac Disease, but what about the symptoms that aren't as well known?
Today I am chatting about some of those symptoms to help you be aware and keep on top of your wellbeing.


Previous Episodes Mentioned: Pregnancy and Celiac Disease

Learn more about Ultimate Celiac System here
 
www.belindawhelan.com/ultimateceliacsystem

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Music Credit bensound.com 

Speaker 1:

Okay, welcome back to this week's show. I am here to talk to you today about some of the different signs and symptoms that you could be experiencing when you accidentally get gluten. Now, I have included a huge list of all the different signs and symptoms that some people react with from gluten if they've accidentally had gluten inside my program, Ultimate Celiac system. So go ahead and check that out if you haven't already, because the thing is, it's important to know which I guess side effects you get if you accidentally get glutened so that you can keep an eye on things as things progress. Now it is easy to accidentally get glutened and sometimes you won't get your regular symptoms. It's very strange how the body changes and adapts and I guess reacts differently over the years as time goes on. So, back in the very early days when I would first get, um, glutened when I like first got diagnosed with celiac disease, my main symptoms were diarrhea, um, bloating, headaches, um, brain fog, all of these nor I guess normal signs and symptoms. They were kind of like the most common ones that people experience, I guess. And that's what I was dealing with. And then as the years have progressed, it is guaranteed that I will vomit<laugh> if I accidentally have gluten. It is just a new symptom. So it's just one of those things. But I've also experienced a period of time where gluten was sneaking into my diet a little bit too regularly, and you've probably heard me talk about this if you've listened to previous episodes and it was from bacon and I noticed that I was getting a lot of joint pain from that. So it wasn't necessarily giving me the major gastro symptoms, but it was causing me regular joint pain in my knees. So that was something that I didn't realize at the time. So if you know all the different signs and symptoms, I guess it can help you be a bit more aware of if gluten is sneaking into your diet. Now, there are different categories that different symptoms fall under. So the, the main ones, I guess are intestinal. So you know, your common intestinal signs and symptoms, there are oral signs and symptoms. There's also skin, your skin reacts as well if you accidentally have gluten in some people. Behavioral issues, especially in children, many parents report that their children has have major behavioral issues when it comes to accidental gluten exposure or even prior to their diagnosis. They'll say that their kids are just crazy or naughty or misbehaved, um, when they accidentally have gluten. So that's a big one as well. Vitamin deficiencies, absolutely, because your body is not absorbing all the nutrients. Um, like I said with myself, joint issues, so joints, muscles, bones, things like that. That's another category. Um, female health issues. And then there's a whole, whole host of miscellaneous ones as well. So I wanna talk to you today about my top six less known signs and symptoms of accidental gluing or if people haven't been diagnosed with celiac disease. See, these are some of the ones that can go under the radar and be diagnosed with other, I guess, issues by their doctors because it doesn't link as easily to celiac disease. Now the first one is dizziness and vertigo. So many people complain of dizziness and vertigo and generally it will be diagnosed with something other than celiac disease very quickly. I know my sister suffered from this, she's my step sister, so we're not blood related. So it wasn't an automatic, Oh my god, you gotta get tested for celiac disease. Um, and I do believe it was in the end it was from stress and she was experiencing it from that. But for many people it could be a symptom of having gluten in their diet. And then I've actually got celiac disease and not know it, or they've already got celiac disease and the gluten's sneaking in. So that's one that can sometimes be, I guess, misdiagnosed for other things. The next one is swollen hands and feet. If you've ever experienced swelling in your hands and feet, you'll know how uncomfortable that is. That's, that's a response to something not right in your body. Absolutely. So for you, it might be to do with gluten, it might be to do with something else, but it's, again, it's an awareness thing to keep an eye on coughing is a big one. So if you have random coughing and it's not to do with an illness, you know, you haven't got a flu, you haven't got a, you know, a cold or anything like that, and it's just random coughing, it's your body trying to expel something, It's your body trying to get rid of something out of it that shouldn't be there. So gluten is a big one that can cause coughing in those of us with celiac disease. So if you just start randomly coughing and it continues for a little while, maybe a week here and there or so, you might wanna look at what you are eating and just backtrack and just check that there's no gluten sneaking into your diet. Now the next one is bladder infections. Oh, horrible, horrible, horrible. If you've, if you've never had a bladder infection, you are so lucky. They are horrible, horrendous. I wouldn't wish them on anybody. They are painful. They are so uncomfortable. And I personally

Speaker 2:

Experienced a lot of bladder infections in the very early days of my diagnosis when I was still coming to terms with, you know, cutting out the gluten. And I would find that if I did have gluten guaranteed within a few days I would get a bladder infection. So that was something that I definitely have noticed for myself, um, over the years as well when there have been those odd accidental, accidental glutens, again, would still get a bladder infection. So I, I can't explain the reason behind it, but I know that it's linked and I know that it's very common for a lot of people and even children, which is horrible. My daughter had a bladder infection not so long ago, and she's only three. And it's just horrible to see the how much pain children are in and when you know as well yourself how that feels. It's just horrible. And it's one of those things that if you can't get rid of it naturally quickly, then you do actually need to go on antibiotics. Um, I do my best to try and get rid of it naturally because I hate having antibiotics if I, if I can avoid them. But with anything, you know, sometimes you just got to go down that medical route and make sure that you're looking after your health because you don't want it to lead to a kidney infection, which I've had in the past and nasty. So yes, make sure that you go to your doctor and you get on top of it. If you can't get rid of it within the first day, if you know that you haven't got on top of getting rid of your bladder infection, please make sure you go straight to your doctor and get onto those antibiotics because it's nasty. So if that's something that you have been experiencing, please note that it could actually be linked to gluten sneaking into your diet. So keep an eye on that and make sure that yeah, you're on top of your diet and knowing that you are eating all the right things and cutting out all the nasties and making sure that you're all over your cross contact when you're dining out and things like that. All right, the next one is panic attacks. So if you have encountered panic attacks and you don't know where they're coming from and it's, it's not common for you to experience a panic attack or it's few and far between, again, it could be something that is related to gluten in your diet. So panic attacks are not a normal part of most people's lives. It's something that has to be triggered. Um, and gluten can again cause that for some people. So again, making sure you're on top of what's going on for your body, keeping track of how you're feeling, all of those different things. If people in your life are telling you things to you that are different, like pointing things out in your behavior, things like that, it pays to take that on board and listen

Speaker 3:

To what they've got to say to you because sometimes we are so caught up in what we are doing that we may not be aware of what's going on for us. If you haven't listened to my story on depression, that came outta nowhere for me. Like that was, that was a gradual thing for me to be diagnosed with depression, but it came out of nowhere that my mom pointed it out to me that she believed I had depression. So it's, it's unbelievable that we do sometimes need to listen to the people in and our lives and the people that care about us the most will hopefully do right by us by pointing out things that have changed for us in our life. So if you do have a loved one, you know, a family member or a friend come to you and approach you and, and say to you, Hey, you've been doing this recently or this has been happening, take it as it's being supportive. It's not people being nasty or calling you nasty names or anything. Please take it on board that people are there to, to love you and help you. So I think that's a good bit of advice that you can take from today's show. And now the last one is infertility. So this is something that is becoming more and more known about celiac disease and I have done an entire episode on, um, pregnancy and falling pregnant with celiac disease. So if you are interested in that, please go back and listen to that. I'll put a link below so that you can go check that out. But infertility is a huge one in women that don't know they have celiac disease. So if you know you've got celiac disease and you're on top of everything and you are eating well and you are cut out the gluten, it's very less likely that this is going to be an issue for you. But this could be something that you've experienced in the past. You might have had miscarriages or you might have found that you couldn't even fall pregnant previous to getting your celiac diagnosis. And you may have, I guess, given up on that dream. But now that you've got a celiac disease diagnosis, this could mean so much more for you. This could mean that you could actually fall pregnant now because your body is in state that can carry a baby. So infertility for people that don't have a celiac disease diagnosis, it breaks my heart to think how many people are out there and they're not getting the diagnosis based on their doctors not picking up on the fact that they, they keep having issues with pregnancy and they're not testing for celiac disease. So I feel that it should be one of those top tests that if people are discovering that they are struggling with falling pregnant or they're struggling with numerous miscarriages, these doctors need to be testing people for celiac disease and making sure that they can rule that out before they go on and get

Speaker 4:

Them to go on IVF and do these, uh, you know, all these hormone treatments and things that may or may not help them. But this should be one of the tests that get done. I guess from this, this show. I want you to understand if this is something you've been struggling with, it may not be forever for you now that you've got celiac disease, it may be something that you could move forward with or it could be that you know someone that has struggled in this area and you may be able to help them by saying, Hey, you need to go get tested for celiac disease. Let's rule this out and let's make sure it's not that. Okay? You could be their saving grace because you share this information with them. So I hope that helps. So they're my top six signs and symptoms today that may get missed with a celiac disease diagnosis or that you may be struggling with now that you have been diagnosed with celiac disease. So thank you so much for checking out this episode and I hope you learn something today and I hope if you know someone that this could support that you share it with them and it helps them as well. Take care. Bye.