These days when people find themselves suffering from unexplained discomforts or symptoms, they go to the Internet to diagnose themselves. This is probably especially a problem for gluten intolerance. One evidence of this is the wide use of the medically nebulous term gluten allergy. So when people begin looking for specific ways to diagnose their condition, they often begin researching different gluten allergy tests. What they may soon realize is that gluten allergy is an umbrella term for several different conditions. To make things even more difficult, people rarely have a strong and accurate understanding of what is gluten.
When you embark on your journey to have yourself or your loved one tested for a gluten allergy, you and your doctor will consider several different tests. Are you suffering from celiac disease symptoms or are you suffering from wheat allergy symptoms? Sometimes you may just refer to them as gluten allergy symptoms until you learn more about this confusing and frustrating gluten phenomenon. Read on to learn the different tests involved in diagnosing all the different conditions under the umbrella term gluten allergy.
Read Gluten Allergy Test
First you must separate gluten intolerance into three distinct categories: Celiac Disease, Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity and a Wheat Allergy. It is also important to get a better understanding of gluten and how it can cause a negative chain reaction in your body.
Celiac disease symptoms occur when the proteins in gluten (glutenin and gliadin) trigger your immune system to overeact with strong and unusual anitbodies. Over time, such antibodies wear down the little hairs called villi which line the walls of your intestine (a process called villous atrophy). These finger-like tiny hairs grab and absorb nutrients as foods pass through your lower digestive tract. As celiac disease symptoms slowly destroy these villi, you become less and less able to process any nutrition from your food. This sets off a domino-effect of increasingly serious health problems.
To better understand exactly what constitutes gluten and why it is such a unique substance, I recommend reading my comprehensive gluten guide: What Is Gluten?
In a vast majority of cases, gluten intolerance symptoms will be systemic and will be a result of consuming gluten over a period of time. But symptoms of wheat intolerance will instead manifest themselves more like you perceive a typical allergy: quickly and with single exposure.
For example, if you eat a large, dense piece of gluten-rich bread and have immediate reactions, you are more likely experiencing wheat intolerance symptoms or a wheat allergy rather than symptoms of gluten intolerance which specifically represent celiac disease symptoms.
Read Gluten Intolerance Symptoms
In a modern, civilized society it is remarkable and confusing how often a serious disease goes unidentified and undiagnosed by medical doctors. Around one in 100 people suffer from celiac disease symptoms, yet a vast majority of those individuals don’t even know it. Sadly, a huge number of these individuals have visited their doctors to discuss problems as a result of an underlying case of celiac disease, yet still go away either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.
Besides increasing celiac disease awareness among patients, family members, grocery stores and restaurants, we need our doctors to better appreciate how often gluten intolerance goes undiagnosed. Online we already battle confusing terms like wheat allergy symptoms and gluten allergy symptoms, but we at least should be able to rely on accurate help and support from our family doctors.
People like me can do their best to teach patients to appreciate what is gluten and how to live a healthy, happy gluten-free life, but we still need our family doctors to do a better job diagnosing celiac disease in the first place.
So how long do most people go undiagnosed after symptoms first arise? Sadly, this statistic is measured in several years, not a few months. Read on to learn the startling reality about how long the average celiac goes before having his or her symptoms accurately diagnosed.
Read Celiac Disease Symptoms Too Often Go Undiagnosed
More children are being tested and diagnosed with some type of gluten intolerance or wheat allergy. While the problem seems to be growing, or at least the diagnosis is improving, there is a difference between gluten allergy symptoms and celiac disease. Understanding the difference will help you better help your child. For a better definition read my article: Gluten Allergy Definition
When discussing these disorders casually or online people often use the term gluten allergy to refer either to a wheat allergy or gluten intolerance. This can be confusing because a wheat allergy and symptoms of a wheat allergy are very different from gluten intolerance and symptoms of gluten intolerance. Understanding the terms and the symptoms of each of the terms can help you better understand the condition your child may have.
Typically people are referring to gluten intolerance or celiac disease when they use the term gluten allergy. There are a few common gluten intolerance or celiac disease symptoms to watch for if you are concerned your child may be suffering from this condition. Children can experience slightly different symptoms than adults so it is important to know the difference between symptoms commonly see in adults and the symptoms commonly seen in children.
Read Gluten Allergy Symptoms In Children
As you explore the frustrating world of gluten intolerance, you will generally find that sufferers of varying degrees of gluten sensitivity tend to lose weight and not gain it. However, in some rare cases where people are suffering from celiac disease symptoms, people may actually experience a degree of weight gain. The body is a pretty phenomenal machine and in some cases, the typical reduction in nutrient absorption that occurs when we suffer from gluten intolerance actually causes a degree of weigh gain.
But a gluten-free diet is not a weight-loss solution for all and should not be promoted as such.
To further explore this relatively rare phenomenon among sufferers of gluten allergy symptoms and read why I’m not crazy about people promoting the gluten-free diet as a weight-loss solution, read on about gluten intolerance and weight gain, how it might occur, and what you can do about it.
Read Gluten Intolerance and Weight Gain
Conclusive results for gluten intolerance are often found by putting a patient on a gluten elimination diet to see if the elimination of gluten relieves the symptoms. This usually isn’t the first step though. Blood tests and allergen tests should be done first because an elimination diet can be somewhat risky if there are other issues present.
One of the first steps should include a blood test to look for raised antibodies and other biomarkers to determine if the patient has celiac disease. If a gluten elimination diet is done first it can impact the results of the blood test possibly causing an inaccurate diagnosis. In some cases a doctor may also suggest a biopsy of the intestinal wall to check the condition of the villi.
Some doctors still think celiac disease is relatively rare, so if the patient tests negative for celiac sprue disease, an allergen test is often performed. It is important to note that just because your test results for celiac disease are negative doesn’t absolutely mean you don’t have some form of gluten intolerance. A negative result also doesn’t exclude the possibility of a wheat allergy. For more on the distinctions between these conditions, please read gluten allergy symptoms.
Read Gluten Intolerance Test
If you have sporadic ataxia, there’s a possibility that you could be suffering from gluten ataxia. Sporadic ataxia is ataxia that does not have a genetic or other known cause. More often than not, sporadic ataxia turns out to have a link to gluten intolerance. In this article we’ll define gluten ataxia, how it’s diagnosed, and how it relates to celiac disease symptoms.
Fortunately there is treatment available. For both celiac disease and gluten ataxia, the recommended treatment is the same: a strict gluten free diet. With individuals suffering from celiac disease, a gluten free diet can completely eliminate all symptoms if followed for a period of time sufficient to allow the intestines to heal. With gluten ataxia, if detected early enough it is possible to eliminate symptoms as well. In the case of permanent cerebellum damage a gluten free diet can still be helpful in controlling symptoms and eliminate the possibility of future damage.
Read on to learn more about gluten ataxia…
Read Gluten Ataxia
The symptoms of dermatitis herpetiformis usually first appear in the early years of adulthood. While the exact medical and clinical relationship between gluten intolerance and dermatitis herpetiformis remains unclear there seems to be some connection.
Dermatitis herpetiformis symptoms can include patches of small red or pink blisters on the back of the neck, back and other extensor skin surfaces. Dermatitis herpetiformis can cause extremely itchy skin on the area affected. This itchy sensation can appear before the blisters even become noticeable. With more severe outbreaks the watery blisters can weep.
Dermatitis Herpetiformis is one of the more tangible and most visible of the possible gluten intolerance or gluten allergy symptoms, but there can be other causes of this skin condition. To determine if gluten intolerance is the cause of your dermatitis herpetiformis outbreaks consider getting tested for gluten intolerance. Knowing the cause can help you find a more effective treatment.
To avoid the number and severity of these uncomfortable outbreaks it is important to follow a gluten-free diet. If you are currently suffering from an outbreak there are some medications that can control the itchiness and blisters.
Read Dermatitis Herpetiformis
