Too often people suffering from some kind of gluten intolerance walk away from a negative celiac disease test not realizing they may still be suffering some kind of non-celiac gluten intolerance. If your blood test indicates the celiac disease symptoms you’ve been experiencing are not actually caused by celiac disease, you may be suffering from one of several gluten-related conditions possible even when celiac disease isn’t present.
Because doctors and researchers recently agreed upon an existence of a non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS), we now have four separate and distinct medical conditions that may occur independent of a formal celiac disease diagnosis. In addition to non-celiac gluten sensitivity, a wheat allergy, dermatitis herpetiformis and gluten ataxia are all possible medical diagnoses related to some form of gluten intolerance.
It can be difficult to distinguish wheat allergy symptoms from celiac disease symptoms, so you should be careful not try diagnosing yourself. Dermatitis herpetiformis is often referred to as a gluten allergy rash, but it is not really an allergy. It is an autoimmune mediated response.
The mystery of gluten and the consequences of consuming it continue to evolve. Read on to discover how to distinguish these different forms of non-celiac gluten intolerance from each other.
Read Non-Celiac Gluten Intolerance
With this article on Gluten Allergy Symptoms, I will attempt to clarify something I feel confuses many people researching Celiac Disease (or Celiac Sprue Disease) and gluten intolerance.
Before you can understand the problems with gluten, you must be able to answer the question, what is gluten? For that reason, you might start by reading the home page of this site. For a more comprehensive understanding of the unique substance known as gluten, try my guide focusing on this subject: What Is Gluten?
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 have come to the conclusion that it 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 is not 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.
Read Gluten Allergy Symptoms
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
A number of people have pointed out the following celiac video report from CNN.
Note: If you’re already pretty sure you or your loved one suffers from gluten intolerance, I strongly recommend: Complete Gluten Free Survival Kit
While I really appreciate the mainstream news media covering the serious issue of gluten intolerance symptoms, I want to note that some may find this report a little alarmist while others might find it vague.
And video is a good format for those who won’t read too much. If you have any friends or relatives who have yet to take the time to read about celiac disease, link them here to watch the video and get a nice summary on the matter. Of course, as usual, they remain vague about what is gluten.
I’m just glad to see celiac disease covered on CNN and celiac disease symptoms discussed in the media in general.
Read CNN Covers Celiac Disease
