9 Skin Conditions Linked to Celiac Disease Ep. 113

There are a number of Skin Condition's that are closely linked to Celiac Disease and generally improve on a Gluten Free diet.   On today's episode I discuss each of these.                                                                                                                                         

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Welcome back to this week's episode of the Healthy Celiac Podcast. Now, as the title says, I am talking today about nine skin conditions that can be linked to celiac disease. Now this can be helpful for you if you are brand new to celiac disease, or perhaps you've got one of these conditions yourself and you're trying to learn a little bit more about it and how it might be tied in with celiac disease. I also think it's amazing to have an awareness of these different skin conditions because I hear of so many people that have these skin conditions and they get given a bandaid, which basically means go and rub this cream on your body, or, you know, try this different way of fixing it, but they're not actually looking at the cause of these skin conditions. And I truly believe that the more people that know about these different skin conditions and what can cause them, it can help more people. So it's about awareness and it's about knowing more about your own body and learning what you can do to make it better for yourself. So the first one is dermatitis herpetiformis. And for anyone that that's listening that has that condition, you know how uncomfortable it is. You know how each year it is. And I guess the best way to get an understanding of it, if you don't know much about it, is to look up some pictures on the internet and see how horrible this condition is. Now, for most people that have this, going on a gluten-free diet and being a hundred percent strict with gluten-free can really support it and make the hugest difference. But some people do struggle with the ongoing. So it, it is something that needs to be , um, very well maintained with a gluten-free diet. And it's something that needs to be diagnosed with a biopsy. So if you think you have this or you know of someone that may have this, they do need to go and get a biopsy to , um, to be diagnosed as such and know that it is that condition. All right , the next one is eczema. Now, I grew up as a child always with eczema, and I didn't get celiac disease into an adult. So I truly don't believe that my eczema was linked to celiac disease, but I would always get it in the same spot . So if you know about eczema , you know what I'm talking about, but if not, it's basically it makes your skin quite scaly and very itchy. And I used to get eczema mostly around my nose, around my ears, and around my mouth. I would also get it on my body, but it was mostly on those, on those areas, and it was horrible. I hated it as a child. And one of my triggers that I knew would always flare up my eczema was if I over indulged on oranges. So if I had too much citrusy food, my eczema would definitely flare up. So I, I don't actually get it anymore as an adult.

Speaker 2: 3:23

I haven't had eczema touch wood for many, many years. But it can be linked to celiac disease and if that's something that you maybe suffered in, suffered with in the past, it could be gluten triggering it, but it, because it is such a common thing, it's not always gluten. It can be other things, like I said with the citrus with me. And what we find is yes, it's very common, but it's found in three times more. It's found three times more often in people with celiac disease. So very, very common and yeah, very, very closely tied to celiac disease. So if you're new to celiac disease and you've been suffering with eczema, it will likely ease off on your gluten-free diet and get better. So fingers crossed for you for that. Now the next one's psoriasis. All right , so psoriasis is another one that's linked very closely to autoimmune diseases. Um , you can treat it, but there's not actually a cure for it, and a lot of people will see that their symptoms will go away on a gluten-free diet. If you perhaps accidentally get glutened or gluten sneaking into your diet again, then you might find that your psoriasis will flare up and those flares can last for, you know, many, many weeks before they'll go away. Um, there's lots of creams and different ointments and things that are recommended as well for psoriasis, but again, you're just looking at a bandaid. You need to cut the gluten out to get rid of the psoriasis. Now my brother, that was one of his major symptoms when he first decided to finally go get , um, tested for celiac disease. He had really bad psoriasis on his body and his hands. He was really, really itchy and really, really uncomfortable. And I think because he kept going to the doctor and they kept giving him all these different creams to try that, he finally listened to his little sister <laugh> and when he got tested for celiac disease because nothing was helping it , and it wasn't until he went on a gluten-free diet that his psoriasis went away. So there is hope for you if you've been suffering with that. So yes, make sure you are adhering to a 100% gluten-free diet. Now the next one is hives. Now if you've ever had hives, you'll know that they are long and itchy. They're very uncomfortable. They're, they're very raised, horrible bumps. I get hives very badly if I get bitten by mosquitoes. Um, they affect me drastically, but for some people gluten is actually a trigger for them and it can cause their body to be covered in hives. So if that's you, again, it's just sticking to that gluten-free diet and, and learning if there's other triggers for you. So it might be an allergy to something else. It might not just be a response to you consuming gluten if you've accidentally had gluten. So

Speaker 3: 6:21

I guess that's about learning more about your body and what happens to you and and finding what those triggers are. Alright , the next one is alopecia. And alopecia is an autoimmune disease and it can be very debilitating for people because what happens is their hair falls out in clumps and they'll have patches of hair missing. Some people lose their hair completely and some people just have a lot lose like in clumps and will have those bald patches. So it is linked to celiac disease. So people with alopecia who stick to a gluten-free diet see a lot of improvement in their conditions. So that is very promising for people with alopecia if they've also got celiac disease. And it's linked to that. So worth knowing and worth sharing, I guess if you know anyone that suffers from alopecia that it's worth looking further into and getting a test for celiac disease or , um, if that proves to be no, they don't have celiac disease to still try a gluten-free diet because it can still support them. Alright , the next one is dry skin. Now, dry skin is more so because your body is perhaps not absorbing the nutrients that it needs from its food. And the biggest one with this is most people actually get their dr get dry skin after a celiac disease diagnosis. And this is because they're cutting out all grains and when they cut out all grains, their body is not getting the vitamin E that they used to get beforehand from those grains. So it's important to still include gluten-free grains into your diet. So making sure that you're consuming vitamin E in your diet can help with dry skin. So that's something worth looking into. And making sure that you are consuming vitamin E to ensure that your skin is nourished. This would be one where I would say , um, a good moisturizer would help in the meantime, but with anything, it's always looking internally and what's going on there first makes the biggest difference. So yes, highly recommend looking at your diet and what you are consuming. All right , the next one is , um, mouth ulcers or cankers . And they are the worst. I hate them. I used to get mouth ulcers all the time. So even after my celiac disease diagnosis, this was one of my symptoms that I would always get. Every time I'd accidentally get glutened , I found that my mouth would just react. And if you've had mouth ulcers, you know how uncomfortable they are . It hurts to eat, it hurts to drink, it hurts to kiss, it hurts at all the the things that we need to do with our mouths and it's not comfortable. So again, celiac disease is very linked, linked very closely to having mouth ulcers and caners and that again, gluten-free diet makes a huge difference if

Speaker 4: 9:19

That's your trigger. So you know, if you, if you don't get sort of the gastro kind of , um, symptoms, if you accidentally gluten get glutened , getting mouth ulcers or cankers could be one of your symptoms. And it's worth really noting when you do get them if perhaps you have been gluten. So it's worth keeping an eye on them and really being aware of what you've been consuming. All right , the next one is rosacea. Now rosacea, if you think about it, is like an inflammation. So if you, if you see people with rosacea, they usually have very red faces and again, link closely to celiac disease. And again, gluten-free diet can lower that inflammation. So that's one worth looking at as well. The next one is acne. So most people would never think of linking acne to celiac disease, but how this works is when , um, people are consuming gluten. So this is, this is more so before they get a celiac disease diagnosis. So they're consuming gluten and what happens is their hormones are being upset, right? So their hormones are being upset and they have mal absorption. And what happens is this, you know, wave of craziness in the body and it disrupts the hormones and it makes the face produce more acne or acne if it's, if it's on the back, it doesn't always have to be on the face, but for many people it's acne. And so many people say that they get a celiac disease diagnosis, they eat gluten free and their skin clears up so amazing. So that's beautiful to know that that can help as well. So again, if you are early on in your journey, I hope this is making you see the light at the end of the tunnel of what's possible for you living a gluten-free diet and living this way of life with celiac disease. So that's my nine skin conditions that I wanted to talk with you today. So like I said, I hope this helps you. I hope this supports you to see the light at the end of the tunnel and and truly see that getting a so Celiac disease diagnosis can be a game changer , it can be life changing and there's so much goodness to come. So good luck on your journey and if you haven't got answers yet, make sure you go see your GP or your doctor and get some answers and get to the bottom of what's going on for you with your skin conditions. So until next time, thanks again for tuning in. If you'd liked this episode, be sure to let me know over at the Healthy Celiac on Instagram, or you can head to Apple Podcasts and rate and review the show that helps Apple know that you're enjoying it and getting it out there to more people. So thanks again and I'll talk to you soon. Take care.