Gluten Allergy Symptoms
by Sarah
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With this article, Gluten Allergy Symptoms, I will attempt to clarify something I feel may confuse people researching Celiac Disease (or Celiac Sprue Disease) and Gluten Intolerance (or gluten enteropathy).
To be honest, the term gluten allergy symptoms itself creates confusion and I’m not fond of it. I titled this article this confusing term on purpose to draw those using it so I might educate them on why it isn’t the best term for this condition. And yet even as I wrote it, I’ve decided that “gluten allergy symptoms” may still have a purpose if we can get the health community to use it in a specific way and in a consistent manner.
The first aspect you must understand is that clinical Celiac Disease and even Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS) is fundamentally different than an allergy in the traditional sense. Celiac disease isn’t a food allergy; it is an autoimmune disease. I explain this to some degree with the main article of this site, but because I receive an overwhelming number of emails targeting the phrase gluten allergy symptoms, I thought I better address the term more directly in its own article.
- Wheat Allergy Symptoms
- Gluten Intolerance Symptoms
- Gluten Allergy Symptoms: Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity
- Usage of the Phrase “Gluten Allergy Symptoms” Online
- Legitimate Gluten Allergy Resources Online
Wheat Allergy Symptoms
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Wheat Allergy Symptoms
First, you should understand exactly how an allergic reaction to wheat occurs. It’s important for people to understand that an allergic reaction is completely different than the systemic reaction your body experiences over time with gluten intolerance.
A wheat allergy is the result of a histamine response. By itself, such an allergy doesn’t indicate Celiac Disease or gluten intolerance. An allergic reaction to wheat is more like the kind of allergy you might associate with allergies to pollen (hay fever) and pets (I’m sure you’ve known someone allergic to cats or dogs).
With such a histamine response, what’s happening is that while blood cells known as basophils and mast cells over-react to Immunoglobulin E. This causes an immediate response. Symptoms of wheat intolerance manifest themselves not unlike other allergic reactions you may recognize: hives, sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, stomach discomfort and even pain.
But just because you eat something with wheat in it and you experience these symptoms does not specifically mean you suffer from gluten intolerance or Celiac Disease. This instead is a relatively simple food allergy.
One example how fundamentally different this can be from gluten intolerance is that often times people can be allergic to foods containing wheat but can do fine with other gluten-based foods, such as spelt or barley.
It is vital that you understand how this is NOT the case for people who are truly gluten intolerant. Spelt and barley are just as bad for you as wheat if you are truly gluten intolerant and not just allergic to wheat.
Gluten Intolerance Symptoms
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Gluten intolerance and celiac disease are in fact more complicated, more subtle and yet even more serious over the long term.
(Note: I don’t mean to marginalize the seriousness of allergic reactions. However, it is imperative for people to appreciate how real gluten intolerance has long-term consequences far more serious than temporary hives or stomach pain. If you suspect real gluten intolerance, you should look into a gluten intolerance test.)
Celiac Disease, and the formal definition of gluten intolerance, is when you have overly strong antibodies reacting to the proteins in gluten (giadin and glutenin). These overreacting antibodies lash out at your intestinal enomysium. For a more detailed definition, please see my main article: Gluten Intolerance Symptoms
If that last paragraph looked like a Martian language to you, don’t worry. I’ll try to explain it a little more simply. What basically happens here is that when you eat a gluten-containing food, your body overreacts to it and that overreaction affects certain innocent bystanders of your intestines: villi.
These villi, which are tiny hairs or tiny fingers along the inner lining of your intestines, perform the vital role of grabbing nutrition from your food as it passes through your small intestine.
Gluten Intolerance and Intestinal Villi
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Over time, villous atrophy occurs. What this means is that your body’s overreaction to gluten slowly wears down and kills off the villi, making your small intestine less capable of digesting all foods — not just gluten-containing foods. This malabsorption has serious and far-reaching consequences. Short term consequences include:
- Celiac Disease Constipation
- Gluten Intolerance Bloating
- Gas
- Diarrhea
- Fatigue
- Joint Pain
- Headaches
- Skin rashes, especially Dermatitis Herpetiformis
Real gluten intolerance will lead to vitamin deficiencies and nourishment deficiencies in your nervous system, your brain, bones and other organs (especially your liver).
This in turn may lead to a whole array of health problems, including severe malnutrition, autism and current studies may indicate even cancer. Children with gluten intolerance or Celiac Disease frequently suffer from a failure to thrive and grow.
Gluten Allergy Symptoms: Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity
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To make this matter all more confusing, you can experience gluten intolerance but still not test positive for Celiac disease. There is still much to learn about this new subset of Celiac Disease, but the vital part is that you can be gluten intolerant yet test negative for Celiac Disease.
Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS) or Gluten Related Disease (GRD) may ultimate prove to be Celiac Disease once better forms of diagnosis are discovered, but for now you it exists as its own diagnosis and phenomenon. Please note that both Celiac Disease and Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity should be treated the same: Both require you completely eliminate all traces of gluten from your diet.
Gluten Allergy Symptoms
It’s possible that NCGS is the most accurate single health condition for the phrase gluten allergy symptoms, as it is neither a wheat allergy nor a formal, clinical diagnosis of Celiac Disease. It is often the heart of gluten allergy symptoms in adults. This is because adults sometimes grow accustomed to a certain level of health and physical discomfort and don’t proactively pursue in an improvement in their life. When gluten intolerance in children appears, attentive and responsible parents often do everything possible to address it. Gluten allergy symptoms in children are often addressed promptly compared to gluten allergy symptoms in adults.
So what are gluten allergy symptoms anyway? If you are experiencing an allergic reaction to wheat, the symptoms will likely manifest themselves through gluten allergy hives or gluten allergy rashes. You might also experience gluten allergy bloating. However, symptoms like fatigue and extended irritable bowel syndrome symptoms typically are more likely to indicate a gluten intolerance. More severe skin reactions, like Dermatitis herpetiformis, can indicate Celiac disease as well.
Additionally, peripheral conditions may develop. These could include gluten intolerance bloating or symptoms of Candida.
Usage of the Phrase “Gluten Allergy Symptoms” Online
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However, please note that this is just my own attempt to find a use for the overly used and misused term. When you are researching wheat allergies and gluten intolerance, please note that in most cases you will likely see the phrase gluten allergy symptoms used by sources which you shouldn’t entirely trust as knowledgeable sources.
In fact, when I Google the exact phrase “gluten allergy symptoms,” several of the sites that returned at the top of the results provided contradictions and even serious misinformation. In those cases I suggest you double-check with reputable sites such as the Mayo Clinic and or WebMD before you accept their suggestions or conclusions.
Please take gluten intolerance very seriously. Begin eliminating gluten entirely from your diet immediately and be vigilant. To help you get started I have a Gluten Free Pantry, which helps you to understand how to replace gluten in your everyday meals and recipes. To help allay your fears of never eating good bread again, I have two recipe pages: Gluten Free Bread Recipes and Gluten Free Bread Machine Bread Recipes.
Legitimate Gluten Allergy Resources Online
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For a more thorough and scientific look at the Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity phenomenon, try Dr. Scott Lewey’s excellent article on Celiac.com:
Gluten Sensitivity: A Gastroenterologist’s Personal Journey Down the Gluten Rabbit Hole
And here’s a short video of a well-known doctor and immunologist describing the difference between a wheat allergy and Celiac Disease (which should help you understand why I’m not fond of the phrase gluten allergy symptoms):
I hope this helps you better understand gluten allergy symptoms and thank you for reading Gluten Intolerance Symptoms.
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