What Gluten Intolerance Symptoms Do You Have?
This section is a description of gluten intolerance symptoms in
more detail and in addition to the usual symptoms officially
associated with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, which are
already listed on the
Gluten Sensitivity Symptoms page.
This section on wheat and gluten intolerance symptoms is 4
pages long, so please hit the continue link at the bottom of
the page text to get to the next page.
There are other symptoms that we have personally experienced.
Others listed below are from some people we know, or anecdotal
evidence from others that I've read about frequently. The
symptoms listed below generally resolved once the person was
on the gluten free diet for a while. In our case we went
gluten and casein free at the same time, so it is hard to say
if casein was responsible for some of them.
Many of the symptoms are likely to be related to malabsorption
and vitamin and mineral deficiencies. They seem to be fairly
common among celiacs.
Gluten Intolerance Symptoms
Body Odor and Bad Breath
Before we knew about my husband having osteoporosis, we had
already come to the conclusion that he did not digest wheat
products well. He had a difficult time with odor, including
his breath. It didn't matter how often he brushed his teeth
or used mouthwash, the smell was coming from deeper inside,
and had a metallic tone underneath. His deodorant had to be
renewed frequently, and he went to all leather shoes, as the
smell from manmade ones would chase you out of the room when
he removed them. Whenever he ate wheat he would also have a
great deal of gas. This is a sign of wheat intolerance.
He decided to give up wheat and things improved in a few
weeks. This was before we had ever heard of celiac disease.
He still ate gravies and things with hidden gluten though, so
other symptoms did not improve.
He had been trying a low carb diet at the time, and made the
connection that the odor problem was less until he ate wheat.
Hyperactivity
The hyperactivity that my husband and one daughter experienced
were most likely triggered as gluten intolerance symptoms. He
was unable to sit and focus on one thing for very long. He
was constantly jumping up to do something else. This was not
how he was when we met. He had low blood pressure then, and
fairly low energy. He became hyperactive about 15 years later.
He usually multi-tasked and got several things done at a time
by running between them. While this was a good channeling of
the energy, it left him exhausted by the end of the day, and
he would run down like a wind up toy that ran out and needed
to be rewound. Once he hit that point he fell asleep, and was
out until morning. He never had any trouble with insomnia.
After about 10 months on the gluten free diet his hyperactivity
disappeared. He actually became very tired, and had trouble
functioning until his nutrition caught up with his body. This
phase lasted about 3 months. His energy has returned, but it
is no longer hyperactive energy. He has stamina, but the
speed is more normal. Part of the low energy was related to
low levels of vitamin D, as his energy improved when the levels
went up. Low vitamin D is very common among adults and children
in this country.
My daughter as a child could not even sit and play Nintendo
games. She would pull one out after 2 or 3 minutes and start
a new one. Her frustration tolerance was very low. This was
one of her gluten intolerance symptoms. She is now gluten
free, but not casein free. She is one semester away from
graduating with a degree in teaching. She has been getting
mostly A's in college, so she can focus much better now.
Emotional Swings, Moodiness, Lack of Emotion
Along with the hyperactivity, there were emotional changes. My
husband showed a lack of emotion, made little eye contact, and
did not get excited or overjoyed about anything. This was
one of his gluten intolerance symptoms, because he was not
like this earlier in life, at least while we were together.
My daughter was the opposite. She had excessive emotion, and
was always either very happy or very upset or sad. Never
anything moderate, but always one extreme or the other. I
used to say she was either skipping with joy or screaming
with rage. I believe this had to do with neuro-transmiiter
imbalances, which is a common gluten intolerance symptom.
Both of them are less extreme since going on the diet. My
husband makes eye contact much more readily now, and actually
expresses some emotion when he finds something interesting or
exciting. My daughter has also moderated considerably, but
how much is due to growing up and how much to the diet is
hard to know. She had to take ritalin in grade school and
most of high school. But she hasn't used it in college.
These kinds of symptoms are considered to be signs of ADD or
ADHD. In my husband's case you might even say Asperger's.
Yet they did begin to resolve on the gluten free diet. Many
individuals who have been diagnosed with these illnesses, and
even including autism and schizophrenia have been found to have
gluten intolerance and have improved on the gluten and usually
casein free diet.
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